Haven
by Shihori
Summary: A bond that is formed in a turmoil of passions cannot be severed by distance or time, even if the only feeling feeding that bond is hate. SessxOC Re-uploaded story from 2002. Please forgive the rushed feeling of the story but I can't take time to edit it
1. Prologue Unspoken Agreement

Title: Haven

Chapter: Introduction – Unspoken Agreement

Date: October 31st, 2005

This is an introduction to a story that was posted on 2002, which I'm editing now and reposting on an attempt at getting back on my writing tracks. Any comments will be highly appreciated. Thank you for reading. J

Shihori.

The soft summer breeze made the branches of the willow trees surrounding the thick brick wall to sway. It was an entrancing movement that made her sleepy from staring at them. It made her wish she could turn into one of those leafy, thin branches and be led by the wind. The sound of the shoji door sliding open brought her out of her thoughts and slowly she turned her face to the newcomer.

It had been a while since she had last seen him. After all, the argument they had hadn't been a light one, and for all he could count, she had betrayed him in a gravely manner. No matter how many times she had stated that her loyalty lied with his father, subsequently with his current mate and child, he would not understand that she had saved the lesser kind. Sometimes she wondered if he forgot that she was as well 'lesser' kind as he called humans, when in a kind mood. Sometimes his way of expressing himself about humans, hanyous, and youkai weaker than him was harsh to the ears and harsh to the soul -hers in particularly.

He knew she would be here, for when not in duty she would retreat to the library. Probably, she thought with some hope, he has reconsidered his decision of ignoring me.

She watched her with careful eyes as he moved with light but determined steps towards one of the shelves to the corner and bringing out a scroll. He looked young around the age of 19 for a human being, but she knew he was at least a pair of hundred years older than her. His white hair, she recalled, takes a silver coloring in moonlit nights, giving him the aura of a merciful god. However, merciful is the one adjective that could not be used to describe the personality of this demon dog. Even if she knew this, she could not stop her racing heart whenever he was around.

He came to the wide rosewood table and sat opposite to her, unbinding the scroll to its length on the table. It was a map. She searched for the title of it and found the answer near the swaying candle. Paper lamps were lit all over the room, but she still needed a candle next to her scroll to be able to read. It was not good for her sight, she knew this, but tonight her restlessness had taken then best of her and led her here.

"Akiko." His voice suddenly interrupted the quiet space between the two.

She looked up from the onyx lettering on the map to settle her eyes on his face. He was staring at her with his usual blank countenance. She could not make out from his face if he was still angry with her or not, much less from his evened tone. Her eyes shifted for a second to the crescent moon on his forehead and she felt an urge to trace it with her fingers along with every single marking on his body, and maybe more. His eyes claimed her attention once again, or she forced herself to look directly into them before her mind took a trip on its own.

"Yes my lord?" She questioned in a soft tone, knowing that he was waiting for those three words before speaking again even though he knew he had her entire attention from the moment he came through the door.

"What are you doing out of your chamber?" He questioned, disapproval dripping in his words.

She tried not to sigh with boredom, so she just stared down at her scroll again. "I've been confined to those four walls for who knows how long. I grew restless and came to read before bed."

"The injury you sustained is no light matter for a human. Go back to your room." He declared with a tone that accepted no discussion about the matter.

She ignored this and continued reading. "Inutaisho is moving against the south clan after all?" Her eyes shifted a moment to the map before him and then back to her reading. "Last thing I heard was-" His exasperated grunt made her stop talking immediately. It is not fear or respect for him what ended her sentence short, but curiosity for what he might say.

He said not a single word, nor made any sound, so she could not help the small gasp that escaped her lips when she felt his clawed hand wrap tightly around her arm and pulled her to her feet. With no warning at all, he dragged her towards the door and out to the hallway. Her legs had fallen asleep under her so she was cursing lightly at his ill treatment of her and her unresponsive feet. Finally she stood on her own feet and walked next to him as he continued to pull her away.

"What's the meaning of this?" She demanded in angry tones. "What's _your_ problem this time?"

"Your wound is bleeding again you careless human." He said in his usual even tone. "You'll be useless if you're requested to accompany us to the battlefield again."

She frowned. Yes she had felt the bandages slightly moisten but it was normal, she had been told, for the wound to bleed slightly until it closed. They stopped at her chamber door which he slid with ease and dragged her in, finally releasing his grip. As he turned to the door again, she felt her anger double. "You're just running away. Just say it! You can't stand the sight of me anymore and want me confined in this room until the time of my death!" She knew she was being childish. She knew he did not care, but she did care if he was with her or not.

Their last argument had been right in this room, while she lay on the futon wounded and ill. He had not waited for her to be better to make his wrath known to her. It was that argument which had distanced him from her for the last two weeks and it was killing her. She knew he only saw her as a piece of furniture, a toy at most, but it was he who made her remain under this roof, in this time foreign to her. She would not let him turn his back on her again.

He had stopped at the shoji door at her words and a short, uncomfortable silence fell upon them. After what seemed like an eternity to her, he turned his face slightly to look over his shoulder at her. "You use that word too lightly human. The time of your death might as well be now, in this room, if you don't learn to respect your master."

The word master brought a smirk to her lips. "I don't remember ever accepting you as anyone's master." She repeated the last word with disdain. As soon she had dropped the last word, she felt herself swept off her feet, literally, only to find herself lying on the futon face down. She could feel his weight pressing her hips down and she fisted the scarlet covers in her thin fingers. Inside a battle of wills was raging: one demanding control of the body to get rid of the insolent pup, while the other, stronger and determined, settled the other will by saying that this is what she wanted. _'If I can't have him,'_ She thought, _'then I might as well die at his wish.'_

That thought stirred the other will in rage and it practically barked in her chest for she felt it echoing within the confines of her chest. _'Then die at his mercy for his petty ministrations you stupid bitch! I should have let you die back then!'_ It cried out, and emerged from her body in a black whirlwind. It materialized at the shoji door into the form of a huge black dog with black fur and blood red eyes that glared with great intensity at the white haired demon dog who had settled itself over its vessel's body. At the sight of a small smirk forming on the corner of his lips, the dog settled for a low growl before leaving the room through the shoji doors that had been closed by the young demon.

Akiko forced her breaths to slow down, waiting for his next movement. Yes, she knew herself to be his toy, nothing but a passing entertainment. Irregardless of his treatment of her, she felt she needed him no matter what. Masochist was a word that had become rather familiar to her in her new vocabulary, but there was something about him that attracted her like moth to the flame. There was no doubt in her mind that she'd end her days by his claws, but until then… _'Until then, I'll do anything to keep him by my side.'_ She thought, closing her eyes as she felt her breaths finally fall into a sedated rhythm. It was then when she felt his weight shift forward and his warm breath tickled her earlobe.

"You continue to defy me in every way possible; your latest feat being the great stupidity of keeping that bitch and her mutt alive." She heard him say in a low whisper as his sharp claws traveled on her neck, catching the fabric of her kimono on the way down and cutting strips as they continued their trip to the small of her back. "Do you really know what you are asking for human?"

His tongue trailed the curve underneath her ear towards the nape of her neck, making her sigh. On the tip of her tongue, she had the answer to his question, which she knew would only enrage him and probably earn her the death he so easily threatened her with. She had made no verbal request, but he was complying to her wishes absent mindedly. The thought of him believing to be in control of their firecracker relationship made her smirk against the soft cover. He may be on top, she thought, but it was she who had led him here.

There were things she'd never tell him, she mused trying to ignore the warm sensation flowing through her limbs as he shredded ever so slowly her clothing; the tip of his claws igniting her sensitive skin while he nibbled on her nape and shoulders with great care to keep from breaking her skin with his fangs. Words like I love you, she swore to herself, would not come out of her lips. Or, if I don't have you, I shall die. Those were words that went better unsaid for they might break the delicate unspoken understanding between them: he was the master and she let him believe it.

She felt his hand wrap around her wrist and she released the cover. His weight lifted from her body, and with a light pull of her arm, he made his wishes known to her. She turned around slowly under his legs and sat on the futon and he immediately resettled on her legs. Reaching slowly to the breast plate's clasp on his shoulder, giving him time to reject her touch, she undid it and it immediately fell downwards. He caught it and threw it aside before the heavy material fell on her lap.

She looked up to him, closing her fingers on the neckline of the haori and leaning her forehead against his chest. Breathing in his scent of soap and spices unknown to her, she recalled his angered eyes the day they first met. _'Everything had been spinning around me that day and the days before it, but it was this stubbornly proud being that became my stability without me noticing this, or without getting his consent.'_ He pulled out the hairpins holding her tresses in place and threw them away. She lifted her face to him and his lips descended on hers immediately, locking in a slow but hungry dance. _'The day he decides he has no more use for her'_, she thought as he settled her back on the futon, his hands traveling down the curves of her body shredding the clothes he had given her and hers working to undo his garments, _'she would be left adrift once again. Death was preferable to being lost again.'_

He listened to her shallow breathing indicating she had finally slipped into deep sleep. His left hand rested between her breasts enjoying the slow rhythmic movement of her chest that soothed him in the oddest way. Their bodies remained spooned, the last position they had taken during their session, which allowed him to breath in her scent and the perfume of her hair. He had been careful not to come close to her during the last two weeks for two reasons: she was wounded and in heat.

Sesshoumaru had taken her as his companion but wouldn't consider lowering himself to the same level his father had stooped to, mating with a human female. As much as this woman tickled his interest and kept him entertained, he saw no reason to mate with her; after all, humans could only give birth to weak creatures. This woman, he recalled while watching her sleep, had invaded his life abruptly even though he had tried to keep her away.

Upon his return from the border patrol, -a custom he had been cultivating since young, but for the last months had turned into his escape from her tantalizing aroma while in heat, he was able to find her scent in the air, no longer bearing the sweet strands that had drove him almost to madness every month for the last year and a half. He sought her immediately, his excellent sense of smell leading him to the library, but as he stepped in front of the shoji door he caught the scent of his father. When he went in, the scent of his forbearer mingled with hers had stirred feelings of possession on him that normally would remain asleep. He tried to reason with his more primal reactions, knowing that his father would not take this human, -mainly because he had mated with another already. However, the scents made him want to strangle her until she understood she could not go near another male for she was his. Trying to ignore the raging feelings, he tried to settle into more important matters, but at her mention of his father, he felt something snap. By the moment they had reached her chamber, he had somewhat regained control of himself. _'But this woman,'_ he smirked as he leaned over to lick a small red line on her neck, which he had done with his fangs at some moment of their foreplay, _'always knows how to tick me off; with her I never have a moment of peace.' _

She had fallen asleep only a few moments ago but he already wished to have her staring back at him with those odd green eyes of hers and in his selfishness he set out to wake her up. Pulling her leg over his, he trailed slow caresses along her loins and a low growl rumbled in his chest as he nibbled her neck again. He felt her body responding to him immediately and he knew soon she would turn her face to him, open her eyes and smile that slow smile of hers. He did not know what would bring the new day, or the one following it, but he was certain of two things regarding this woman he had not allowed into his life but had taken into his bed irregardless.

His lips twitched into a small smirk as she opened her eyes and immediately smiled at him with innocent abandonment. _'If this woman does not drive me into killing her any time soon,'_ he decided silently as he captured her lips with his claiming her mouth's warmth as his, _'I will keep her at my side until the end of her days.' _


	2. Chapter One Ghosts from the Past

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, its story or characters. I've just borrowed them to create this fanfic. Akiko is my original character.

Title: Haven

Chapter: One – Ghosts from the past.

Date: October 31st, 2005

This is an introduction to a story that was posted on 2002, which I'm editing now and reposting on an attempt at getting back on my writing tracks. Any comments will be highly appreciated. Thank you for reading.

Shihori.

_Her hand felt warm while resting on the man's chest. She was told he would not make it, but either way she had to try. No matter his advice to her, she had to try. A white clad nurse came into the room. "Miss," She said softly, kneeling next to the girl that had slumped on the floor but kept her hand on the man's chest and her face against his hand. "Your mother has been called. She is on her way." The girl dressed in a white and green school uniform looked up. Her emerald eyes swollen with shed tears moved immediately to the paling face and bluish lips. She stood up slowly and leaned over to touch her forehead with the man's forehead. Closing her eyes, she recalled a moment of her life when he was life and pressed his forehead against her smaller one. "It's a promise?" She'd heard him say in her mind. "Promise dad!" She'd chirp while smiling at him. _

_Opening her eyes, she stared for a moment at his closed eyelids. "I'm sorry." She whispered and leaned back. Grabbing the white sheet, she covered his face. _

The alarm clock's digital numbers read 7:00 just when it began ringing. The long, dark curtains were pulled to the corners automatically, allowing the first sunrays come into the bedroom through the roof high windows. Something stirred under the thick white quilt on the bed. A single hand slithered out patting around. Finally finding the alarm clock on the nightstand, it was turned off.

There was some more stirring under the quilt before the person under it decided to leave the bed. She kicked the cover to a side and stayed still in the middle of the king sized bed, eyes closed. Raven locks were spread over the white silk pillowcases. With a sigh, she opened her eyes revealing two green pools. Slowly she rolled on to the bed's edge and sat up, - her hair cascading down her shoulders onto the bed.

Yawning, she walked towards the bathroom, turning on the lights. Her slender, long nailed fingers raked through the long tresses and worked them into a messy bun held by a pin. She gave another sigh while looking at her pale complexion on the mirror while her hands massaged her shoulders. The tips of her fingers touched three lumps on the back of the left shoulder. Turning around, she stared at her back's reflection. From her left shoulder, going downwards to the right side were three long lumps ending before the right shoulder blade.

A glimpse of sadness showed in her eyes while looking at the strange marking. She seemed to discard some negative thought before turning away from the mirror heading to the clear walled shower. "Life must go on." She repeated to herself some sort of mantra in low whispers as she pulled over her head the light blue baby doll. "I must never look back." Turning on the hot and cold water keys, she stepped under the water, scalding her skin soon after.

Leaning against the shower wall, she slid to the white tiled floor, wrapping her arms around her body. "Why?" She questioned herself, "Why is it so difficult to take you out of my skin?" The locks on her head slowly slipped out of the bun, now completely wet. Her hair formed a curtain at the sides of her face. Her right hand reached back to the markings on her skin and caressed them slowly. She sat there for the longest time, hoping for the marks on her back to stop tingling; to stop reminding her of her past.

"Souta! Breakfast is ready!" The young looking lady called out as she placed the dishes on the table.

"Oh…that smells good!" An old man walked into the kitchen followed by a fat, white and orange cat. He took a seat at the table and stole a tempura shrimp while the lady wasn't looking.

"There you go Buyo." She patted the cat's head as it dug into its plate.

"Good morning." Souta took his seat at the table and yawned.

"You shouldn't have stayed up till late playing those videogames." His mother reprimanded him lightly. She sat down and they gave thanks for the food before having it.

There was a light sound coming from the house's entrance. Then a female voice called out. "Mother? Oujii-san?"

"We're in the kitchen sweet sweetheart!" The lady called out as she grabbed a small bowl and began serving an extra helping of rice.

The young woman, dressed in a navy jacket with a white blouse under it and navy blue pleated skirt over the knees, walked into the kitchen. "Good morning." She looked at the bowl on her mother's hand and said, "Not staying long."

"Oh!" She smiled and passed the bowl to the grandpa who dug in after finishing his first. "I thought you had come for that promised family breakfast."

"Sunday." The green-eyed woman answered her face blank while she looked at the members of the household gathered at the table. "Where is Kagome? Shouldn't she be ready for school?"

The three at the table looked at each other remaining in silence. Grandpa then answered, "Poor Kagome! She is in her room with a terrible sickness!"

"Oh." The newcomer feigned interest as she sat down. "Kagome seems to have turned very weak physically in the last months. What could possibly tie her to bed this time Oujii-san?"

The old man seemed to think hard for a while. Snapping his fingers, he answered, "Down syndrome! The doctor says it's contagious my girl. Our poor Kagome-chan!"

A nervous smile twitched at the mother's lips reacting at the hard stare the younger woman gave her. "Akiko, darling-"

Akiko stood up placing her hands on the table, glaring at her. "I'm not her mother; it is not my responsibility to force her to go to school. Yet, her tuition is and when the money I'm investing is going down the drain, it is of my concern."

"Why do you say that, Akiko-chan?" Oujii-san continued to play fool.

Akiko took a deep breath and exhaled before answered, calming herself down. "I'm tired of receiving letters from school. The last one said that if Kagome doesn't take the special tests they prepared for her, she is going to lose this year. I'm sure you have received similar letters mother, so I truly don't understand how you've allowed it to come to this point." She straightened her jacket and walked away from the table. "Tell her to go to my shop today, otherwise she is in deep trouble, because I won't cover up for her anymore." She left without saying good-bye, upset over the situation.

"Why don't we tell her the truth?" Souta asked looking worriedly at his mom. "Aki-neesan isn't happy at all."

"And she'll be even less if she finds out what Kagome has been doing all this time." Oujii-san pointed out as he popped another tempura shrimp into his mouth. "Don't worry. Akiko-chan wouldn't do anything against Kagome. She's just mad because she knows we are hiding something from her."

"It is a miracle that she hasn't found out about the well yet after the last visits she's been paying us." Mother said her thoughts out loud while staring worriedly at the kitchen's entrance. "I don't want to even imagine how she'll react if she finds out."

Grandpa shuddered, "Scary…" Buyo meowed as if agreeing with him.

Akiko walked down the short stone steps while speaking through the cell phone. "I'll be there in twenty Zan. Don't worry." She put the cell phone away right after ending the call in the white purse hanging from the left shoulder. Suddenly she felt a bone chilling wind surround her. She stopped on her tracks and looked around.

The trees' leaves weren't moving so there was no wind. Her eyes set for a moment on the sacred tree and then moved around to the other side. She frowned, placing a hand over her chest while staring at the Bone-eater well's shrine.

'Help me…' She heard a female voice cry. Something inside her told her it came from the small shrine. Akiko took a pair of steps towards it but the crying stopped for a moment.

She could see a man close to his thirties, dressed in white and blue yukata, speaking to a little girl donned in a white and red priestess kimono. "No matter what you hear Akiko," His voice echoed in her mind. "Don't go close to the well. Those voices aren't from this world. They are untrue. They are deceiving."

"Yes father!" chirped the image of her child self.

'Help me!' The eerie voice called again. Akiko sighed and looked away for a moment but looked back again, indecisive over going in or not. This time she saw her high school self, dressed in black skirt and white blouse. She was staring at the shrine as well, but did not hesitate to walk in.

Akiko shook her head and began walking away. "It is only my imagination. I sealed it myself." She muttered to herself and continued her way out of the shrine, down the long stone stairs.

Akiko drove down the highway in her shiny black Mercedes. Her thoughts were still set on the earlier events. 'Why? They had stopped after I sealed it. Why are they calling again?'

She stopped the car abruptly in the middle of the street earning many honks, insults, and finger signs, but luckily no accident occurred. Yet, she looked pale and disoriented. "I've been so stupid!" She yelled hitting the steering wheel with closed fists.

Taking control of herself, she did a U turn back to the shrine, and grabbed the cell phone from her purse hitting speed dial immediately. After a few words with the other party she found herself yelling into the phone. "No Zan! You'll have to figure it out on your own! I won't be able to do it! I'll call you soon!" She turned off the cell phone as she ran up the stairs as fast as the skirt and high heels allowed her to. She gave a quick look to the well's shrine as she ran by on her way to the Higurashi home.

"I can't believe them!" She fumed as she opened the door forcefully. "Mother! Oujii-san!" She called out as she kicked her shoes off before stepping in. She hurried into the kitchen where she found her mother washing the dishes. "How could you hide it from me?" She demanded as she stepped closer.

"Hide what?" She asked innocently while holding a plate on a hand and the sponge on the other. "Why you look so upset?"

"Kagome!" Akiko spat her name. "Kagome went through the well didn't she?" Mother's wide eyes and dropped jaw gave her in. "I knew it!" She yelled before storming into the hallway and running up the stairs. "Didn't I tell you to keep them away from it?"

Mother ran after her drying her hands on the white apron. "I did tell them not to go near it for any reason, but Kagome heard a voice one day and ended up being pulled into the well." She followed her to a bedroom, dark and slightly messy used as storage place. "What are you doing Akiko?"

She had taken off the jacket and perched it on the back of a chair. "Going in and bringing her back." She used an even tone although her face showed signs of still being very upset.

Brining out from a drawer in the closet a priestess kimono, she began unbuttoning her blouse when she remembered she wasn't alone. "Could you close the door behind you please?"

"Ah! Yes." Mother muttered and left the room as requested.

Akiko stripped out of her clothes and took off her jewels. After donning the priestess garments, she went to the closet and knelt at the floor. Knocking twice on a piece of wood, she lifted it by the risen side. In there was a kodachi in its sheath with a small bead rosary in dark blue, wrapped around the hilt. Hugging the weapon to her chest, she whispered, "Please protect me once again just like you did before, father."

She slipped the short sword into the back of the kimono keeping it in its place with the back of her brassiere. "If she sees it, she'll panic." She muttered to herself thinking of her mother. Taking a pair of wood sandals from the closet, she walked out of the room where Mother and Grandpa awaited.

"It is not necessary for you to go Akiko-chan." He said, "Kagome is safe!"

"How can you say that, Oujii-san?" She took off the pins holding the bun on place and let it fall down, curling at the ends, reaching under her waist. "You know the well. It reacts differently to every member of our family, but that makes it only more dangerous. It has a mind of its own." She turned around heading for the stairs. "You're not changing my mind."

They followed her back to the shrine giving her all sorts of excuses they could come up with, which she paid no attention to. Akiko ignored the pain in her chest as she entered the shrine. She noticed that the seals were broken just like she had guessed. She decided to scold that girl for undoing her job. "I don't know when I'll be back." She said as she climbed down the stairs to the well. Leaning on the border she looked inside the empty well frowning. 'It has changed of shape.' She thought, but made her worries aside.

"Akiko, it really isn't necessary. Kagome should be back soon." Mother insisted.

"Anyone calls, say I had to do an emergency trip and that I didn't say where." She gave them the excuse to use if asked for as she brought her legs into the well, and then jumped in not looking back at them.

"Akiko!" Mother called out but she had jumped disappeared suddenly.

Grandpa went down to the well and looked into it. "Gone." He said as if he had expected to find her at the bottom. "I didn't believe she'd have the guts to go back."

Mother smiled softly, still looking worried. "She may act as she doesn't care, but Akiko does love her siblings dearly." Grandpa nodded, agreeing in silence with her while frowning slightly at the turbulence he detected in the void space of the well.

Akiko climbed out of the well effortlessly. She sat on the edge taking in the view. It was in the middle of a clear in the forest. "I hope I'm in the same time as her." She muttered to herself as she stepped on to the bright, green grass bed. "Now…which way was that village?"

She began walking and entered the woods. Her senses were alert at any sound or movement. Minutes later she reached the arc over the stone stairs; -the same as the one back home. The brunette stood at the top of the stairs, looking at two kids playing at the end.

They vanished form her sight as an image flooded her mind. It was of her younger self, running up the stairs, clothes torn and dirty. Behind her a group of villagers threw rocks at her calling her monster. One of the rocks hit the back of her neck making her loose balance and fall face first on the stone steps.

Akiko looked down at her high school self as she looked up with tears in her eyes and blood gushing out of the fresh wound over the left eye. The image of Akiko in her early teens struggled to her feet and disappeared through the real Akiko. _'Let's hope this time it is different.'_ She climbed down the stairs. Her fingers balled into fists. _'Otherwise, the roles will be inverted.'_

"Good morning." She said to the children who stopped playing. "I've come from far away. Could you indicate me where this village's priestess lives?"

"Are you a miko?" asked one of the boys.

"Of course you idiot! Don't you see she dresses like one? She must be one." The other boy answered.

"But she doesn't look like Kaede-sama." The other boy replied grinning and rubbing his dirt streaked nose. "This one is pretty."

The comment earned a smile from Akiko. "I am not but thank you for considering me so boy." She knelt in front of them. "I am a miko from the west, and I am looking for someone. That is why I need to have a word with your priestess."

"Follow me miko-sama!" beamed the dirty-faced boy who had said she was pretty. He ran down the dirt road.

"Wait for me!" called out the other and followed suit.

Akiko smiled and walked after them. _'If Kagome went this way, she must have passed through the village.'_ She reasoned_. 'The miko must know if so. Kagome couldn't have gone unnoticed wearing normal clothes. I doubt she would be forced into a miko get up anwyas.'_

"Kaede-sama!" The boys called into the hut. "A miko from the west is looking for you!"

"I heard you child! I heard you!" The old priestess walked out. "No need for yelling." She looked at the newcomer with questioning eyes. "Go back to play kids."

"Yes ma'am!" They exclaimed and ran back the way they had come, bidding good-bye to Akiko.

"Were you looking for me?" Kaede asked as she stepped closer.

"I was." Akiko nodded, "I am Higurashi Akiko, and I am searching for my younger sister, Kagome. "Have you met a girl in strange clothes that answers to that name?"

Kaede remained silent, pondering on the truth of the young woman's words. "Come into my hut." She walked back inside feeling Akiko right behind her. Kaede brought something out of a woven bag hanging at the wall. Turning around to show it to Akiko, she asked, "If you are really her sister, can you tell me what this is?"

Akiko was taken aback for a moment but replied promptly, "Crayons. What is she doing with crayons?" The later were her thoughts spoken out loud. With a sigh she explained herself. "Those are for drawing and coloring." She smirked, "She's going back to kindergarten."

Kaede half-smiled not knowing what she meant by kindergarten, "These are Shippou's, -a fox youkai child that travels with her." She sat down on a mat at the floor close to the fire. They left early this morning."

"Which way did she go?" Akiko hoped to catch up with her.

"It is strange. Kagome never mentioned having a sister; only a brother." Kaede ignored her question.

"Souta, our little brother, is closer to her than I." Akiko let out some information, knowing that Kagome had to speak of her closest family at least, and that this would convince the old woman of her honesty.

Kaede nodded, "I understand. They went down the road headed east. You can wait for them here. She always stops by before going back to her time."

Akiko bowed, "Thank you but I must get going." She walked out of the hut.

"Wait child!" Kaede hurried after her. "It is dangerous out there. There are youkai everywhere. Your sister is safe with-"

"I can take care of myself." Akiko informed the old woman, giving her an emotionless stare. "Thank you for your concern."

Kaede watched her grow farther. "Those eyes…" She muttered, "They gave me the chills. Is she really Kagome-chan's sister? They're…so different."

"I wonder which era is this." Akiko spoke to herself as she walked through the woods.

She had been walking for hours. The sun was already in the highest spot in the sky so it had to be noon. "If I'm not mistaken, there must be a creek nearby." She muttered, spotting some blackberry bushes. She picked out some, carrying them on a wide leaf from another bush, and continued her way.

Her ears picked up the sound of running water not far from there. She went on until she reached it. She saw a girl run and hide behind what seemed a youkai horse just when she stepped out of the woods. The horse glared at her ready to protect the girl, she guessed. She smiled at them. "I'm sorry I startled you." She walked to the creek. "I come only for a drink." She knelt on the creek's edge, setting aside the fruit, and cupped some water in her hands, drinking the fresh liquid.

The girl took a pair of steps away from the youkai horse looking at the woman. "Are you human?"

Akiko looked surprised at the question. "I am." She smiled. "Are you?" She knew she was but decided to chat with the peasant looking girl.

The girl smiled and nodded. "I am!" She walked closer to her. "But if you are human, why are your eyes green like the grass?"

"My mother's eyes are the same color." Akiko took a berry and put it in her mouth.

"Your mother was youkai? Only youkai have strange colored eyes." The girl sat close to her and looked at the berries.

"You may have some." Akiko offered, "And no, she wasn't youkai either."

"Weird…" The girl muttered as she grabbed a berry and popped it into her mouth. "What is your name?"

"Akiko." The raven-haired woman answered with a smile. "Yours?"

"My name is Rin!" The brown-eyed girl chirped.

"Ah…" Akiko looked at the youkai sitting under a tree shade nearby. "May I ask why you're alone here Rin?"

"I'm not!" Rin smiled and munched on a berry. "Ah-un is with me." She pointed at the beast. "And they'll come back soon. He promised!"

"They?" Akiko leaned over and had another drink.

"Yes! Se-" Rin reconsidered what she was about to say, remembering that she had been told not to confide her master's name to human and youkai alike. Her master was a very well known youkai and anyone could use her knowing she was his protégée or so she was explained by the toad servant, Jaken. "My master and his servant will come back soon." She said in a very formal tone she had copied from Jaken.

"Youkai I take it." Akiko looked at Ah-un who seemed to doze off for a moment. "Humans don't possess one of those."

"Yes." Rin nodded, "But they're not bad. They-"

"If he is taking care of you, I am sure he is not." Akiko rose to her feet. "I must leave now." She smiled at Rin and patted her head. "Be a good girl and stay here or your master could get worried if he doesn't find you here."

"Can't you stay and play with me?" The little girl asked looking up at her.

"I would if I had time, but I must find my sister soon." Akiko couldn't help think that this girl reminded her of Kagome. "Take care little Rin." She whispered and kissed her forehead.

"I will Akiko-neesan!" Rin chirped waving good-bye at her. "You take care too!"

Akiko smiled and waved back at her before stepping into the woods again. _'I hope she can be happy like I once was.'_ She thought. _'With the only difference that she won't have to leave this beautiful place; she belongs to this time.'_

Her heart became heavy at that thought. 'Eight years... Nothing has changed except for the faces.' An image of her being kicked several times by town people flashed through her mind. 'The faces are friendlier.' She recalled the earlier events, Rin, the two village boys, and the old miko. 'Even so, I must get back soon. This isn't my world…Never was.'

"Don't you get it, you bastard?" Inuyasha growled at his opponent, their swords shrieking at the friction. "The Tetsaiga is mine! You can't even use it!"

"You are unworthy of such sword." Sesshoumaru jumped back taking advantage of Inuyasha's short distraction and swung his sword at him, releasing a mass of energy at his enemy.

Inuyasha jumped out of the blast's way, immediately sending an attack of his own. "Kaze no kizu!"

The canine youkai brothers were too busy in their battle that they couldn't pick up the scent of the young woman hiding in the woods that surrounded the newly created clear.

"Sesshoumaru doesn't seem to understand he can't have the Tetsaiga." Sango commented to her companions.

Miroku nodded, "Probably he prefers to have it in his possession even if he can't wield it, than knowing his hanyou brother has it."

"I thought he'd give up on the Tetsaiga after defeating the leader of the fire mountain cats." Kagome sighed. "I hoped to have a peaceful night tonight."

The fox child in her arms yawned. "This is getting boring."

Akiko watched as Sesshoumaru attacked Inuyasha over and over, his attacks became stronger with each blow. "I can't believe my luck." She muttered angrily. One of Sesshoumaru's attacks avoided by Inuyasha, headed directly towards the group of humans and youkai watching. "Kagome!" She gasped and grabbed the bead rosary at her neck.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha cried out as he hurried to block the attack.

"Behind me everyone!" yelled Miroku as he unwrapped the rosary form his hand, ready to suck in the blast into the vortex in his hand.

When the blast was about to hit them it was deflected by a shield that glowed with blue sparkles. The ball of energy went back the way it came, missing Inuyasha for a few millimeters. Sesshoumaru deflected it with little effort with the same sword that had released it.

"Show yourself!" His voice boomed through the clear spot and his eyes didn't waver from the specific place where the intruder stood. He had caught the scent of another human, one that seemed too familiar to him; however he had refused to pay attention to it before.

'Damn!' She thought holding tightly the rosary with her right hand. 'I should have known he'd smell my scent.'

Sesshoumaru had no patience left and sent a blast to where the intruder was. This time it destroyed the trees in the vicinity but his target remained unharmed, protected by the rosary's power.

'There is no way out of this.' Akiko thought as she cast of the shield and stepped on the small pieces of wood, all which was left around her, as she came closer to the battlefield. She ignored the piercing pain on her chest as she stepped closer. 'There is no way out of this.' She thought, keeping a poker face.

"Who are you?" Inuyasha demanded, looking at her with distrust.

Sesshoumaru's golden orbs remained on the young woman several meters away from him. He felt his present rage flare even more with sudden memories he believed long forgotten.

Sesshoumaru turned around towards the woods, addressing his brother over his shoulder. "I've spared your life tonight. Be thankful bastard."

"Feh!" Inuyasha sheathed his sword and crossed his arms over the chest. "I'm ready for you any time!"

Kagome and the others ran to Inuyasha. The girl from the future stopped dead on her tracks when she saw the newcomer's face closer.

"Thank you for protecting our lives miko-sama." Sango bowed lightly.

"It was nothing." Akiko paid no attention to them or the grunting youkai. "Kagome."

Kagome was startled out of her thoughts with the cold tone of Akiko's voice. "Onee-san! What are you doing here? How you found me? How you got here?"

"Onee-san?" The others asked in unison with surprise in their voices.

Akiko wasn't disturbed by the quick babble of her sister as she explained the existence of an older sister. Deciding there was no point at lengthening this moment, she spoke up interrupting Kagome. "We're going home so say good-bye to your friends."

"What?" asked a suddenly angry Inuyasha.

"What? Why?" Kagome frowned, looking upset out of the sudden. "You come to the Sengoku Jidai, something I thought only I could do, and tell me to go back calmly as if this was a regular situation! You need to explain what is going on."

"It is too late for you to wander into the forest." Miroku pointed out. "This is youkai's time of the day."

"I can take care of us just fine." Akiko replied with a calm look on her face.

"Kagome is going no where!" Inuyasha growled and stepped in front of Akiko, blocking Kagome from her view.

Akiko noticed the pair of ears on the youkai's head, and the golden orbs. His face was younger but very similar to one she remembered clearly. She smirked, "This world is too little or life is a never ending sarcasm."

"What?" He asked not understanding her words.

"Inuyasha, it is alright." Kagome grabbed him by a sleeve of his red fire rat coat. She turned to her sister. "It is too late and dangerous out there like Miroku said. Why don't you better explain yourself while we set up our campsite again?"

A while later they were gathered around the bon fire except Inuyasha who sat at a branch of a nearby tree. "They're Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara. The one at the tree is Inuyasha." Kagome introduced her friends who said hi or nodded, or grunted like Inuyasha's case. "So will you explain why you're here Akiko?"

Akiko sat on a log by her own, her hands resting on her lap. "Your school's principal sent a letter to my shop saying you must take three exams this month or you'll lose this school year. I've come to take you back home."

"That's not good." Kagome sighed, "I can't loose this school year."

"If she does those exams, she'll be alright?" Sango asked.

"If she doesn't fail them, I suppose so." Akiko nodded.

"Then you should go back to your time Kagome-sama. You can come back after you're done." Miroku suggested the best way to go.

"I guess I'll have to. Don't want to do 10th grade all over again." Kagome muttered looking appalled.

"I'll be straight forward with you Kagome." Akiko said in such hard tone that Kagome braced herself for what was coming. "You've never been the role model of a student and you'll be lucky to pass two of those three exams with such short notice." She continued speaking before Kagome could reply. "You won't come back to this time, and that isn't a request Kagome. You'll do as I say."

Kagome gasped, "Onee-san! But-"

"Then she won't leave!" Inuyasha hoped down from his branch and stepped towards Akiko looking menacing. "I need Kagome to find the Shikon no Kakera."

Akiko stood up and looked coldly into his eyes. "You don't decide over her life."

"I-" Inuyasha began but was interrupted by Kagome.

"Neither of you do!" She yelled angrily walking to them. "You come here, pointing out the rights and wrongs, telling everyone what to do like always!" For first time she looked genuinely pissed off, even worse than when she bickered with him, so Inuyasha stepped back to safer ground next to Sango, Miroku and Shippou.

"Did you go home like every fifth day of the month to give mom a check and disappear from our lives till the next fifth day, and happened to notice I was missing?" Kagome asked in a defying tone.

"You're losing your point Kagome, if you ever had one." Akiko looked down at her uninterested on her childish complaints.

"My point is you are no one to tell me what to do or not. My family doesn't mind me coming and going through the well so I'll keep doing it until I wish to!" Kagome breathed heavily and her cheeks were slightly flushed.

"You still haven't given me a valid reason Kagome." Akiko kept her poker face set. "I'll give you mine then. First of all, this isn't your time and you're tampering with it by bringing things from ours, not to mention traveling constantly through the well. Second, this place is full of dangers you can't even imagine." Kagome smirked at this. "Third, you ignored my orders of staying away from the well and broke my seal. Fourth, I care about you and what you're doing with your life is of my concern. And fifth, I pay your tuition and I hate to see my money go down the drain when it could be used on something equally important."

Kagome shook her head, "You don't care as much as a sister would. Never have. All you care is about your fortune and see it well spent. I won't go back and abandon my quest." She looked determined, "Even if it costs me a school year."

They stared at each other for a moment in silence, until Akiko spoke, "Well then, if it is your decision, I'll respect it. Just keep yourself safe." She turned away form her and began walking towards the woods.

Kagome couldn't believe her sister had just given in and stared at her in disbelief. _'Is she serious?'_

"Wait Akiko-san!" Miroku caught up with her. "You must stay for tonight. It is-"

"I can take care of myself." Akiko answered coldly. She bowed courteously at him, then at the others. "It was nice to meet you all." –'_And meeting you again.'_ She thought while looking at Inuyasha. Having said all she needed to, she departed from their camp site, disappearing in the dark woods.

"Kagome-chan, are you alright?" Sango asked holding her shoulders.

"Kagome snapped out of her shock. "I can't believe it." She whispered, sitting down on the dirt.

"Why you never told us about her Kagome?" Shippou asked as he sat on her lap.

Kagome sighed, "We've never had a good relationship."

"Just like Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha." Miroku commented as he sat next to the two girls. Inuyasha just grunted and went back to his branch.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that." She apologized for her outburst. "Actually we had never argued before, but then we've never had a long talk either."

"How did she find you and why is she dressed as a miko?" Inuyasha asked the most basic questions.

"She's the shrine's miko since father's death, although she rarely works at it." Kagome looked at him. "But I had no idea she could travel through the well. I thought the only reason I was able to do so was due to my connection to the shikon no tama. Much less do I know how she found us."

"Kagome-chan, shouldn't you go after her? She's an easy prey for youkai." Sango muttered.

"Feh! She can used\ that shield of hers. No need to worry." Inuyasha muttered, "It felt awfully strong for a human, but her scent is of one."

"I didn't know Akiko had any power at all." Kagome said softly, "She must be very upset with all I said."

"Hurt would be more accurate." Miroku pointed out, "After all she was worried for your safety."

Kagome sighed and rubbed the back of her head thoughtfully. "I'm such an idiot."

Akiko walked through the forest aided only by the full moon's rays coming through the thick foliage in small spots. _'I should reach the well by sunrise. Then I'll rest in my bed for days and forget this every happened.'_ She thought, _'And hopefully forget-'_ She froze on her steps when she saw the figure sitting on a fallen tree on a small clear a few meters ahead bathed in moonlight. _'Him.'_

Sesshoumaru stood up and walked in his usual regal way towards her. His right hand set on one of his swords at the left side of his waist, unsheathing it as he stepped closer. His face showed no emotions but his eyes remained locked on those of his prey.

Akiko pulled out f her back the sheathed kodachi. She unsheathed it just in time to defend herself from the youkai's attack, using it as a physical shield. She was human, but not and ordinary one. Yet, she stood no chance against the great lord of the western lands.

The blue shield covered Akiko protecting her from the youkai's sword. Without it she would have been divided into halves. "I have no business with you!" She declared as her blade met his again. Her shoulders were in pain due to the force he applied on the weapon against hers.

"Is that so?" Sesshoumaru seemed enraged by her words and blasted her away. He saw her back hit a tree's trunk and heard her cry. Walking to where she had fallen he looked down at her limp form, already unconscious. A thread of blood trickled out through a corner of her mouth.

Sheathing his sword, he picked her up by the waist, leaving her sword behind. He walked towards the creek where Jaken and Rin awaited.

Jaken gasped at the sight, "Sesshoumaru-sama! Is that-" He stopped his question by the simple glare of his master. _'He's picking up filthy strays again.'_ He thought glancing at Rin for a second.

"We're going home Jaken." The youkai lord looked at Rin who slept on Ah-un.

Jaken took some seconds to process the information. "Y-yes Sesshoumaru-sama! » He stammered and ran to Ah-un shaking the sleeping girl.

Sesshoumaru looked down at Akiko. Her long hair was pulled over her head hiding her face but her neck and some of her shoulder was uncovered. His golden orbs were set on what could be seen of her markings that had begun to take a light pink color.

Taking his eyes off her, he walked to Ah-un laying her on her stomach over the beast's back. Rin was half asleep still, muttering non-sense at the back. Sesshoumaru sat on the saddle and then gave his order to the beast. "Take us home Ah-un." The beast floated up to the sky with ease, headed to the western lands.


	3. Chapter Two Memories

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, its story or characters. I've just borrowed them to create this fanfic. Akiko is my original character.

Title: Haven

Chapter: Two - Memories

Date: November 11, 2005

This is an introduction to a story that was posted on 2002, which I'm editing now and reposting on an attempt at getting back on my writing tracks. Any comments will be highly appreciated. Thank you for reading.

Shihori.

'_Why did you risk your life for that half breed and his useless human mother?'_ Sesshoumaru looked at the young woman sleeping on the futon in the middle of the ample room. He stands at the open doors that lead to a flower garden with a small pond in the middle. Taking his eyes away from her still form, he stared out to the garden.

His mind recalled an image of his past he believed forgotten. Akiko, probably 16 years old, walked around the garden gathering flowers. She wore a blue silk robe with gold flower embroidery over a white kimono. Her hair was braided and reached the middle of her back. White bandages were wrapped around her head. She sat down on the grass to arrange the flowers she had chosen.

"Why did you risk your life for that half breed and his useless human mother?" An image of Sesshoumaru's younger self asked as he walked up to her.

"Maybe because they're precious to your father just like you are." Akiko separated the flowers by colors on her lap. "It might be because I'm just like them, some sort of half breed and a useless human." She smiled up to him, offering a white sunflower like flower to her lord. "They're precious to my heart as well. I think it is a little bit of all"

Sesshoumaru looked at the flower in a disparaging manner. "You should go back to bed and rest. Our healer may be needed at anytime."

"Yes my lord." Akiko smiled gently at him despite his cold stance towards her.

He walked away, but looked back when a hummed tune reached his pointy ears. Instead of leaving her quarters, he stayed there listening to the soft tone of her voice and staring at her small form.

Sesshoumaru was brought out of his reverie when he felt the presence of uninvited guests close to his palace's grounds. "Jaken."

Jaken slid the door open. "Yes Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Tell my stupid brother and his companions they are not welcome in my territory." Sesshoumaru looked back at Akiko. "They have nothing that belongs to them here." His last words were more like his spoken thoughts.

"This Jaken will kick that filthy hannyou out of your lands Sesshoumaru-sama!" He slid the door close, and his quick steps disappeared in a matter of seconds.

Sesshoumaru walked down to the futon and stared at her pale face. Her smiling face while offering the flower to him flashed through his mind. "Things shouldn't have changed." He said in his usual even tone. "It would have been less bothersome for both of us."

Akiko walked through the forest, her right arm wrapped around her torso while using the left to lean against the trees to help her remain standing. "I'm not a monster…" She whispered to herself. "They're the monsters..." --'But I have an ability I can't use to save my loved ones.'

She looked up noticing a big black dog lying under a hollow, rotting tree trunk not far away. "You're hurt too?" She whispered, "I can feel your pain."

The wounded dog growled, sensing an intruder, bearing its teeth to Akiko. It had a long cut on its stomach, probably days old since it was thoroughly infected.

"Easy there…I won't harm you." Akiko whispered as she knelt in front of it, extending her hand to its snout for it to take in her scent. The dog sniffed her hand, realizing she represented no danger, and laid its head down again.

"Let me try to heal you." Akiko sat down and laid her hands gently on her wound. The animal shrieked and tried to bite her, but it didn't have enough strength. "Easy there…" She said in a soothing voice, forgetting of her own wounds for a moment. Soon she removed her hands from the wound and sighed, "One more I can't heal." She patted the animal's head which whimpered at her touch. "All I can do is keep you company." –'That is all I've been able to do lately.'

Akiko leaned against the moist trunk taking the dog's head on her lap and began caressing its head gently. "No one deserves to die alone." She whispered, "No one deserves to die in pain, but there is nothing I can do to ease yours or mine." She grabbed the blue bead rosary at her neck. "Keeping you company is the best I can do, till the moment you leave, just like I did with him." –'Father…' The young girl tried to keep her eyes open, but they had a will of their own. 'Three days…' She thought as she slowly fell asleep. 'How long will I be here?' Soon her exhausted body took over her conscious, and fell asleep.

The animal looked at her through slightly open lids. Its red eyes were dull and slowly dieing. With a sigh, it closed its eyes, soothed by the human's soft touch. Time passed unnoticed by the human as she slept, and the dog died on her.

The young girl's eyes snapped open, gasping for air. She felt dizzy, as if floating or being sucked into a hole. Her ears hurt with the simple sound of the breeze flowing through the trees' branches. Her eyes burned with the light coming through the leaves and her skin felt on fire as if suddenly she had fallen into a pit of lava. Akiko kicked the dog's corpse away without thinking and crawled away, feeling her senses overloaded out of the sudden, and a strong pain in her chest and head. After a while of struggling to get nowhere, her body fell limp on the grass bed, tears flowing out of her closed eyes.

"You have no right to be on these lands Inuyasha!" Jaken announced, holding the staff of heads to his side. "Sesshoumaru-sama wants you to leave immediately!"

Inuyasha smirked at the toad youkai, "Feh! These are my father's lands as well and I can be here if I like!"

"Your father is long gone and it is Sesshoumaru-sama who decides over this territory now!" Jaken pointed his finger at him. "You and those filthy humans better leave his lands immediately! You have nothing to look for here!"

"What did Sesshoumaru do with my sister?" Kagome demanded, standing next to Inuyasha.

"Your sister?" Jaken looked confused.

"You can't deny it." Sango spoke up, "We found a sword that belonged to Kagome's father which belongs to Akiko-san now."

Jaken glared at them. "That human is where she must be. Even if this humble servant is not happy about it, it is Sesshoumaru's wish to carry human drags with him around."

"What do you mean she is where she must be?" Miroku questioned the youkai as he stepped closer.

"Stay where you are worthless human!" Jaken pointed the staff of heads to Miroku. "I meant exactly that and there's no reason to give you any explanations. Now leave my lord's land, or I'll be forced to-"

"To what?" Inuyasha unsheathed the Tetsaiga, grinning at Jaken who gave two steps back. "Now take us to the woman or you die right here."

"Ah-ah…" Jaken stammered, fearing for his life. There wasn't much he could do against the Great Taiyoukai's fang.

"Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru stepped through the camouflage barrier that surrounded his palace and protected it from intruders. "You're trespassing." His right hand rested on his sword's hilt ready to unsheathe it.

"What did you do with Kagome's sister bastard?" Inuyasha growled, ready to start fighting again.

Sesshoumaru's left eyebrow arched slightly. "Sister?" He unsheathed his sword. "Whatever I did with her, is none of your business, so leave my lands or suffer the consequences!"

Inuyasha sneered, "This time I'll beat you for sure!" He growled and jumped towards Sesshoumaru ready to attack.

Akiko's legs felt like jelly as she forced herself to continue walking. Everything around her seemed bigger, fuller, brighter, and louder. Her senses were messed up for some reason that she couldn't understand. 'Why?'

'You're strong. I need to live on.' A female voice spoke in her head.

'You had no right!'

'I've made you stronger.' It replied.

'I didn't want to be stronger!' Akiko screamed in her mind.

'So you want to be beaten up again by weaklings like those from that town?'

'No…'

'Then go to sleep kid. I'll take revenge for you.'

'No!' Akiko fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. 'I am myself. I don't want revenge. I want everything to stop spinning around me! I want you to shut up!'

'You'll become weak sooner or later kid. I can wait as long as necessary.' The voice laughed. 'You should have never felt pity for me.'

'Then you'll have to wait for an eternity, cause I won't give in.' Akiko then yelled, "You won't take over me!" She struggled to her feet and continued walking for what felt like hours.

She arrived to a small clear in the forest. There was a worm like youkai dead to one side, and at the other there was a human looking youkai with white hair and a pair of blue markings on his left cheek. He had wrinkles all over his face and hands. Akiko noticed the wound across his chest, and felt the urge to help him.

'Don't you learn of your mistakes?'

'Helping others can never be a mistake.' Akiko replied to the voice within her. She walked to the youkai who glared at her with tired purple eyes. "I mean no harm. All I wish is to help you. Will you let me?"

"What can a useless human like you do?" The old youkai grunted.

"I can't make you younger, nor save you if you're meant to die of that wound." Akiko muttered, stepping closer. "But if you're meant to live despite that wound, I can heal you and end your pain. Will you let me?"

"If you can't, I'll take you to hell with me." The youkai growled, "If you can, I'll spare your life human."

"That's fine by me." Akiko muttered and knelt next to the male youkai.

'What are you doing?' The voice demanded.

'Trying to help someone.'

'He'll kill you if you can't heal him just like you couldn't heal me!'

'Then I'll end with your dreams of living on since you can't possess any other body except his, and you'll die before you can find another suitable vessel.'

'Idiot! You'll die as well!'

'If I must to get rid of you, then I will. After all, nothing really matters anymore.' She placed her hands on the youkai's wound, expecting being hit any moment.

He grunted and bared his teeth at her. "You better heal me; otherwise I'll make your death more painful than mine!"

Akiko ignored his words, and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, her hands began glowing with a soft blue light and in a matter of minutes the long gash was entirely closed, leaving no scar.

"Hmph!" The youkai stood up, checking his chest where the wound had been. "You've just saved your life."

Akiko half smiled, opening slightly her eyes and whispered. "Glad I could help." She rose to her feet groggily. Suddenly everything around her seemed to merge into a single fuzzy image. –'Father...' It was her last thought before she lost consciousness.

"Inuyasha! Destroy the barrier so we can go in and save Akiko-san!" Miroku suggested, tired of doing nothing to help except watch the two half siblings fight.

Sesshoumaru ignored the human's words, sure that there was nothing they could do that would take down his barrier. "I'm growing tired of you hannyou." He grunted, swinging his sword on Inuyasha's direction and sending powerful energy blast towards him.

Inuyasha had been distracted while thinking of a way to go pass Sesshoumaru to take down the barrier, and reacted late to his attack. Using the Tetsaiga as shield, he received the blast's full force, which sent him flying away, taking some trees down with him.

"Inuyasha!" His companions called out and ran towards him, but stopped when they noticed he was starting to get back on his feet.

Sesshoumaru didn't seem amused at all with the situation. He wanted to get rid of them as fast as possible, but it had been long since the last time he was actually able to beat Inuyasha. 'I should have killed him right after father died just like his worthless mother.' He thought bitterly.

"What is this entire rattle about?" A female's voice asked.

Sesshoumaru's ears twitched recognizing that voice. "What are you doing out of your prison bitch?" He grunted, not taking his eyes away from his enemy.

A woman with long, black locks that reached the ground, dressed in the same blue robe and white kimono Akiko wore, walked through the camouflage barrier. Her features were the same as Akiko's but her eyes were dark red as blood and on her left cheek she had a single purple marking. She grinned as she stepped next to Sesshoumaru and placed her hands on his shoulder, resting her chin over them. "Missed me pup?" Her body floated above the ground to reach his shoulder's height.

"So much I wish I could strangle slowly to death." He glared sideways at her, hating her bold grin.

"How'd you manage to do so with only one hand?" She laughed and floated away from him. "Who could possibly do such thing to the great Sesshoumaru?"

"Go back to your cell bitch." He growled at her.

"Or what?" She grinned wider, "You'll kill me?"

"Akiko!" Kagome called out mistaking the woman with her sister.

She looked to the girl and smiled at her. "Ah… Kagome." She floated towards them, grinning at Kagome's surprised look. "We've never been introduced, but I know you quite well."

"Who are you and why you look like my sister?" Kagome demanded, feeling a chill on her spine just from looking at her bloody eyes.

"I'm probably the only true friend your sister has." She smirked, "Probably, the only one who cares about her sincerely. After all, you don't appreciate her at all, right? You think she's only a bossy woman that shares half of the same blood as you."

"That's not true!" Kagome exclaimed looking hurt by the woman's words.

The woman's eyes set over Inuyasha who stepped next to Kagome. She gave him a sleazy smile. "Ah…Those eyes and face… I cannot be mistaken." She wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck.

He tried to pull her away but his hands went through her body surprising everyone. "What the hell!"

"A youkai spirit!" Miroku exclaimed.

"Why does she look like my sister?" Kagome asked the houshi, confused with the woman's looks.

She chuckled, ignoring the others. "You're just like your father. Who would have thought that you'd become so handsome? -Even more than that Sesshoumaru brat. He's too much like his bitchy mother."

"You filthy bitch!" Jaken yelled, "How dare you insult Sesshoumaru-sama's mother?"

Sesshoumaru only smirked at her remark. "If you think so bitch, why don't you leave with that bastard? Take over his bitch's soul and recover your physical form. That weakling won't be able to win over you for sure."

The woman looked at Kagome as if considering the youkai lord's idea. "Sometimes you can be very smart Sesshoumaru, but not always." She let go of Inuyasha and went back to Sesshoumaru. "What makes you think I'll leave her at your mercy?"

Sesshoumaru smirked, glaring down at her. "She already is."

"She never was." The woman grinned, and whispered. "She's the only one you've never been able to tame."

"Argh!" Inuyasha brought his sword forward, tired of fooling around. Kagome and the others stepped back. "Kaze no kizu!" He yelled, -the Tetsaiga took a red color as it sent the three claws of fire towards the barrier.

Sesshoumaru watched as the claws hit the barrier, but didn't dissolve it, and smirked at the failed intent. "Give up Inuyasha." He said in a proud tone. "You won't set a single filthy paw on my land."

The woman floated around Sesshoumaru and wrapped her arms around his neck to whisper at his ear. "That was close for a hannyou." She grinned, "I bet you're regretting not killing him and Akiko that night."

"It's never late to get rid of him and you." Sesshoumaru muttered, while enjoying Inuyasha's confused look.

The woman chuckled, "You'd have to kill her first, and that my pup, is something you cannot do."

Sesshoumaru ignored her comment, feeling someone approach the barrier. He looked back just in time to see Akiko walk through it. Her face was calm and her eyes showed some fatigue. 'Why didn't I feel her wake up?' He wondered, staring at her intently taking in her warm smile.


	4. Chapter Three Home

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, its story or characters. I've just borrowed them to create this fanfic. Akiko is my original character.

Title: Haven

Chapter: Three - Home

Date: October 31st, 2005

This is a story that was posted on 2002, which I'm editing now and reposting on an attempt at getting back on my writing tracks. Any comments will be highly appreciated. Thank you for reading.

Shihori.

Sesshoumaru was ready to stop Akiko from running away the moment she walked through the barrier, but the serene smile on her face when she looked at him took him totally off guard. So he remained still, observing her walk slowly towards him.

"You've finally woken up child." The blood-eyed woman smiled at Akiko. "I thought you'd never open those strange eyes of yours again."

"You must have been really bored if you decided to come out Dante." Akiko smiled warmly at the devious female spirit still holding on to Sesshoumaru. "I'm sorry. Did I sleep for so long?" She touched her forehead. "Rekai hit me very hard against the floor."

"Rekai?" Dante released the youkai lord and floated closer to Akiko. "Are you okay child?"

"Just feeling a little bit beaten, but I'm fine." She smiled and looked at the silver haired youkai. "Sesshoumaru-sama, what is going on?" She asked with a soft tone as she approached him. "Are they from the South clan?"

"South clan?" Sesshoumaru's eyebrows knitted together and he looked up to Dante who only shrugged. He simply answered with the truth. "No. They aren't."

"Why are you fighting them then? Are they new enemies coming for your father?" Her eyes expressed concern while staring at the half-breed youkai among them.

'What is wrong with her?' Sesshoumaru thought while looking down at her. "No. They're my enemies." He watched her nod as if she understood his words entirely.

"Onee-san!" Kagome ran towards them but froze when Sesshoumaru glared at her. "I'm so glad you're fine!" Tears began to well up in her eyes. "I thought he had killed you by now."

Akiko looked at the girl in strange clothes and frowned. "You're from the future."

Kagome didn't understand her words. "Of course I am silly. What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know you girl, so don't treat me with such familiarity." Akiko never liked being called names or even little inoffensive things like 'silly', and she wasn't about to let a stranger call her such in front of anyone.

Kagome felt as if her head was becoming light out of the sudden. "What are you saying Akiko? You're my sister."

"My sister isn't a high school student and that's the uniform of one." Akiko pointed out as she stepped closer to Sesshoumaru. She whispered, "Who are these strange persons my lord?" When she was only a few centimeters away from him she noticed that his left arm was missing. Her eyes went wide as she brought her hands to her lips. She looked terrified. "What happened to your arm my lord?" She touched her head looking confused. "How long did I sleep?"

"Jaken." Sesshoumaru called the toad youkai who had remained close to the barrier and far from the battleground all the time. "Take Akiko back to her chambers."

"Yes Sesshoumaru-sama!" He ran to them and looked up to Akiko who had just grabbed Sesshoumaru's left sleeve.

"Go Akiko. You must rest." Sesshoumaru spoke in his usual even tone.

"Please come with me Akiko-sama." Jaken spoke up to her. Noticing his master's treatment of her, he added what he considered the proper title to the human.

Akiko frowned at the way he addressed her, but smiled right after. "What are you saying? Since when was I given such high title?"

Jaken was taken by surprise and didn't know what to answer. Fortunately for him, Kagome called out for her. "Akiko! Please come to yourself! I know I said terrible things, but I didn't mean them! Stop your little act!"

Akiko frowned, "I have no idea what you're talking about girl, but I'd suggest you to go back home through the well. You don't belong here."

"Akiko! Listen to me please!" Kagome yelled, "You are my sister and I adore you! I didn't mean all I said! Actually I admire you. Always going for what you want! You're aggressive and always get what you want! Many times I've wished to be as strong as you! You're a successful woman at the age of 24 only. Even if we don't get along I look up to you."

Akiko laughed, "Stop saying nonsense girl! I can't look that old! I'm only 16 and even though your words are flattering, I don't know you and as it stands, you're my enemy if you're Sesshoumaru-sama's enemy." She looked at Sesshoumaru suppressing a smile. "I'll leave you to dispose of your enemies my lord." She bowed her upper body a little. "If you'll excuse me, I shall retire to my chambers as you've requested." She walked past Dante, Jaken at her side. "Come Dante. Don't bother Sesshoumaru-sama any more. You know he doesn't like having you around."

Dante watched her go through the barrier with the toad youkai and then turned her face to Sesshoumaru who was glaring at her intently. She half grinned, "I understand. I shall keep my mouth shut. This will be interesting." Suddenly her human like form shifted to that of a big black dog and ran through the kekkai.

Kagome felt her legs lose strength and she fell t her knees. "Onee-san…" She whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

Sesshoumaru looked at her and smirked, "Hard to believe, you are related to her wench."

Inuyasha ran to cover Kagome from his brother, ready to continue their fight. "What did you do to her bastard? Why are you keeping her with you?"

"I have no obligation to give you any explanations Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru's poker face was on from the moment Akiko left.

"You bastard!" Inuyasha growled, "I'll make you explain yourself no matter what!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled, stopping him from charging towards the youkai lord. Miroku and Sango had helped her to her feet, and she was holding to Sango. "Let's go."

"But Kagome!" Inuyasha seemed confused and angry at the idea of leaving another unfinished battle with his brother, and letting him keep Kagome's sister without a fight.

"There is nothing to do." Miroku explained Kagome's decision. "Akiko-san has forgotten her sister and more so, she is on Sesshoumaru's side. Instead of rescuing her, we'd be the evil ones at her eyes."

"We must retreat for now." Sango supported Miroku's explanation. "We don't know why she's acting so strangely, and it is better to come back when we've fully understood the situation."

"Are you going to leave her at his mercy?" Inuyasha growled, looking in disbelief at the teary eyed girl. "What if he kills her before we can do anything? It's better to have her against her will with us and safe, than with him and in danger!"

Kagome sobbed softly, but forced herself to speak using a low tone. "I had never seen Akiko smile before. Something tells me she trusts him, and I'll have to do the same while she's still in this state. Let's go Inuyasha." She grabbed his arm and looked softly at him. "Let's go."

Inuyasha grunted and sheathed the Tetsaiga. Facing Sesshoumaru he warned him, "If you hurt her, I'll kill you!"

Sesshoumaru smirked, "I'd like to see you try." He watched them walk away, making sure they wouldn't turn around and try to attack when he wasn't paying attention. Once he couldn't smell them anymore, he turned and walked back into the protected area, planning what to do now that the situation had taken such a twist in his favor.

Sesshoumaru slid the door open and he noticed that Akiko was back in the futon asleep. He stepped closer and stared down at her sleeping form, looking peaceful in her dreams. "Dante." His voice echoed in the room, smooth as silk.

Dante, in her dog form stepped out from the shadows from a corner, immediately shifting to her human like form. "What are you planning to do with her?"

"That is none of your business." Sesshoumaru walked towards the doors leading out to the garden and slid them open.

"It is if you're planning to kill her," Dante seemed less amused with the situation now. "For something she doesn't even remember."

"She doesn't or she's just playing fool?" Sesshoumaru asked the demon spirit keeping his eyes on the flower garden.

"Whichever is easier for you to accept pup." Dante smirked, looking at him sideways while standing at the opposite side of the doors. "The real question here is, do you have the guts to kill her whether she does or doesn't remember?"

"Do you really need an answer?" His lips curved in a small grin.

"And you say the humans are the worthless ones..." Dante sneered at him, turning around she walked to the futon. "She is too much for you Sesshoumaru." Her body became semi-transparent as it floated downwards, merging into Akiko's.

Sesshoumaru approached the futon, bringing his right hand forward, which expelled a green acid smoke. "Maybe it is time to end this." He muttered to himself. "Break with that past once and for all." His eyes turned to cold steel as he readied himself to kill the sleeping woman.

When he was about to send her to the afterlife, the door was slid open and Rin stepped in. "Sesshoumaru-sama!" She chirped, "Didn't know you were here."

He lowered his hand and looked at the small human child. "Why are you here Rin?"

Rin walked in holding tray with a pitcher and a cup. "Jaken-san told me to bring Akiko-neesan some water to drink for when she wakes up." She knelt next to the futon and placed it on the small table next to it. "She was very nice that day you left me alone by the creek. She gave me berries and we talked for a while. She also told me that you had to be a very good youkai if you were taking care of me." She smiled back at him. "I'm glad she's here."

Sesshoumaru stared at the two humans for a moment then turned to leave the bedroom. "Come Rin." He called her and the child hurried after him, sliding the door closed.

Kagome was staring at the fire in the middle of their campsite. The wood cracked as the fire continued to consume it. Sango and Miroku were sleeping already, as well as Shippou who was curled up in her sleeping bag. Kirara slept next to Sango as well. The only ones not sleeping were Inuyasha and herself. The young demon was perched up in a branch like usual, looking at her from the tail of his eye.

She felt a knot in her chest form again and suppressed a sob, hugging her legs to her chest. "This is my fault." She whispered to herself. "I should have accepted to leave and then convince her to let me come back."

Inuyasha sighed, tired of watching her blame herself for what had happened. Jumping off the tree branch, he walked to her and sat at her side, crossing his arms over his chest. "It is not your fault." He stated, as if that would make her think otherwise.

"It is." Kagome insisted, "Of all moments to tell her how I felt, I had to choose this place and when she was the angriest. I triggered everything. Maybe she felt so hurt by my words that she blocked herself not wanting to remember me anymore."

"I didn't know someone could just forget their lives." Inuyasha commented, looking down at Kagome.

Kagome nodded, "It is very well known in my time. I noticed the bruise on her forehead. Probably the concussion helped, but many times when someone forgets who they are or at least the most recent part of their lives is because there is an emotional trigger that makes them become blocked to parts of their lives when they were the least happy, and return to the time when they were the happiest."

Inuyasha frowned, processing the information for a while and then snarled. "Are you saying her happiest time was with my brother?"

Kagome shrugged her shoulders lightly. "I have no idea. Up till now, I didn't know she could travel through the well, but she had obviously done so when she was my age. Otherwise, why would she know Sesshoumaru?"

Inuyasha asked, "But she's only what, -6 years older than you?"

"Eight actually…" Kagome muttered, "Eight years older than I."

"That means she came here not so long ago. Then why did she ask that bastard if we were enemies of my father?" Inuyasha recalled her little conversation with Sesshoumaru. He was able to hear thanks to his dog-ears.

"She did?" Kagome looked up to him confused, "Then I have no idea what is going on.

Your father died a lot before you were sealed to the tree right?" She saw him nod making her sigh. "This is so confusing."

Tears welled up in her eyes again making Inuyasha fidget next to her nervously. "We'll figure out what is going on, and then we'll save her from Sesshoumaru." He said trying to encourage her.

Kagome chuckled, wiping her tears. "Save her." She looked at him, her lower lip trembling lightly. "Do you have any idea of when was the last time I saw her smile?" Inuyasha just shrugged. "I can't remember the last time I did, but today although she seemed in pain, she smiled to him!" She exclaimed, starting to get exasperated. "She never smiled for pictures, to people who greeted her warmly, or even when she was a success in Paris with her first clothes collection!"

Inuyasha's right eyebrow arched, not understanding the pictures or the Paris part. He watched her sigh again for the millionth time since they walked away from Sesshoumaru's territory, and leaning over to hide her face against her knees. Feeling the urge to make her feel better, he extended his right arm towards her, but then retrieved it, deciding it was better not to hug her. "We'll reach the well in the afternoon." He muttered, hoping that his words could make her feel better. "You'll go to your time and ask your mother to explain what's going on. She must know if she's her daughter."

Kagome smiled at the last words. "We're sisters by father's side. Akiko is daughter of a famous Greek model and actress." This earned another confused look from the dog demon. "Mama says that father met her in the shrine. She was in Tokyo to work, but the shrine had called her attention being a foreigner so she had gone in. It was what they called, love at first sight, and soon the married, but that type of love doesn't work for some persons. They divorced soon after Akiko was born."

"Divorced?" So far he had understood four of all the words she had said.

Kagome smiled, knowing she was using a lot of words unknown for him. "They broke their marriage. She took Akiko with her, and father married my mother soon after, but they decided to wait to have any children since father wanted to have Akiko with them as well. When she was 7 her mother gave her to dad saying that she was holding her back."

"She abandoned her child?" Inuyasha couldn't conceive such act. "What kind of mother was she?"

"The selfish type. She kept contact with Akiko, but it wasn't the same, mama said. She took Akiko as her own daughter, and soon I was born." She smiled serenely while staring at the flames flicker. "Mama says that Akiko was always protective of me, and more so of Souta when he was born."

Inuyasha tried to give her hopes. "Then maybe your mother knows what happened to her here. You told your mother, so probably she did too."

"I can only hope so." Kagome sighed, "Otherwise, I don't know how we'll find out."

Inuyasha rose to his feet. "You should go rest. It's been a long day." He turned around and went back to his tree branch.

Kagome stood up and looked back at him, smiling. "Thank you Inuyasha, for listening to me. I really needed it."

"Feh!" He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to keep the tough guy pose, and looked away. "I just want to solve this fast so we can continue looking for the Shikon shards."

Kagome smiled at him, knowing in her heart that he was genuinely worried about her making her feel safe. "Good night Inuyasha." She whispered and went to the sleeping bag, carefully slipping in not to wake Shippou. She closed her eyes the moment her head hit the small pillow, and sighed. 'Everything will be alright.'

Akiko opened her eyes slowly, finally waking up from her long slumber. She rolled to her back, staring at the wood ceiling for a while and then smiled. "That was such a nice dream." She whispered to herself, a soft blush on her cheeks. With a sigh, she sat up and noticed a nicely folded kimono at the corner of the large futon.

She crawled out of the quilt and took into her hands the beautiful red silk kimono with white petals design. Under the kimono there was a thick white obi with two decorated combs on it, and a small velvet pouch next to it. "This is so beautiful…" She whispered, -a wide smile spreading on her face.

Stepping out of the futon, she undressed, changing into the new kimono, which was perfect fit. It felt like a caresses over her skin. She opened the pouch and brought out its contents. She smiled and giggled; "So strange…who would put my brush and comb in a pouch instead of leaving it on my dresser?" She looked up to where she remembered her dresser was and frowned. "Where's my dresser?"

Looking around the room she noticed that it was furniture less except for the futon. "Where are my mats and table? And my vase with flowers?"

Dante floated out of her back, feeling her vessel become exalted. "It's so early and you're already having a heart attack child?"

Akiko frowned, "Not funny. Where's everything Dante?"

The youkai spirit shrugged, "Ask the pup."

"Stop calling him pup." She reprimanded her, "You know he hates it."

"Exactly why I do it." Dante eyed the girl sitting at the futon. "That's a beautiful kimono you're wearing."

Akiko's face immediately beamed with happiness. "Isn't it?" She straightened her left sleeve with the right hand. "It must be a present of Taiyoukai-sama for protecting Inu-chan and milady." She sighed, looking sad for a moment. "Who would have thought that Rekai had only been waiting for the right moment to take revenge on the great lord? It would have killed him if his child and woman would have died then." She smiled at Dante. "But I am thankful to you. If you wouldn't have come out and defended me, I'd be dead for now."

Dante sighed, "Sure thing." She waved her hand at her, "Come on, turn around. I'll do your hair since there are no mirrors in this room." Akiko turned around smiling. "Thank you!"

Dante gathered her hair and took the gold comb with red stones embedded at the sides. She began untangling her hair. 'So he kept her brush and comb.' She smirked, 'I understand males less each time I try.'

"I'm so lucky to have you." Akiko said in a cheerful tone, bringing Dante out of her thoughts. "At first you were annoying as hell, and still are from time to time, -well most of the time, but I think I can get used to you. I don't feel lonely anymore. You're the closest I have to a friend." She sighed happily. "I'm so happy here. How long is it that I've been here? Almost a year, right?" Dante didn't reply. "It's been a year since father died. I thought I would never find solace, but I did from the moment Sesshoumaru-sama's mother took me under her wing. Since then this place has been my haven, my home, -the only place where I've felt this blissful."

Dante didn't reply at this, but stared sadly at her. She knew the reason of her happiness was the one demon that wanted her to suffer a slow, painful death. Sighing, she continued to brush her long tresses until they were soft as the silk the young woman was wearing, and then held it to her head in big curls with the gold and jade combs. She finished by brushing Akiko's bangs over her forehead to cover the slowly disappearing bruise. "There you go, more beautiful than any of the Taiyoukai's bitches."

Akiko chuckled, "What are you saying Dante? Until the other day, you were saying I was the ugliest thing on Earth."

"I changed my mind." She shrugged, "Now go get something to eat. You haven't eaten in four days now." Dante floated into her body ending their conversation.

Akiko stood up and looked down at herself. "Wish I could see myself in a mirror." She sighed, "Oh well, that doesn't matter." She went to the door and slid it open, stepping into the hallway. "Strange." She whispered to herself rubbing her arms that were suddenly cold. "Everything is so quiet and dark in the middle of the morning."

"Akiko-sama!" Jaken called out from behind her.

She turned around and smiled, "Again you address me that way. Jaken is your name right? Why is that?"

Jaken stammered, "Ah…no reason in particular." He held a tray with hot food. "I've brought your breakfast. Sesshoumaru-sama ordered me to wake you up and make you eat, but I see that won't be necessary."

"Since when food is brought to my chamber?" Akiko asked confused, but always smiling.

"Ah….I…" Jaken didn't know what to reply. His master had informed him of Akiko's loss of memory but hadn't told him what to say in cases like this.

"Ever since you saved the half breed and his mother." Sesshoumaru walked out from the shadows behind Jaken. "Jaken, take her food to her chamber." He ordered the servant, wishing him out of his sight. Jaken just nodded and entered her room.

"Good morning Sesshoumaru-sama." Akiko smiled warmly at him. "Could you tell me where your father is? I'd like to thank him for this beautiful kimono."

Sesshoumaru's eyes took in Akiko's looks. Despite the paleness of her face caused by the lack of feeding in the last days, she glowed with a childish, somewhat naive happiness. He had remembered her likes in colors and patterns. Anything bright and flowery was her style. "They're gone." He said, not telling her that the kimono was a present from him and not from his father. "He took them to a safer place."

"Safer than the palace?" Akiko blinked, "Can't imagine that." She smiled and shrugged her shoulders lightly. "But I guess this place isn't as safe as I thought. After all Rekai had been here for so long only waiting for the perfect moment." Her eyes drifted to his empty left sleeve, and her eyes showed some sadness. "Sesshoumaru-sama, may I ask-"

"You may not." He answered coldly, knowing what she was about to ask just from the look in her eyes. "Now go feed yourself." He turned around and walked back the way he had come.

Akiko smiled thinking that he was finally showing concern for her. "Hopefully someday," She whispered to herself, "I will be able to take down his shields, and make him change his mind about me."

"Don't dream child." Dante said as she floated out of her body in the dog form. "Now go back inside and eat."

"You must come with me too. He's around and you know he doesn't like you wandering around, so come on." Akiko said in a serious tone, walking towards the open door.

"Who cares?" Dante snarled, "I don't."

"I do." Akiko pointed out, "So please Dante."

"He's not worth it." Dante replied and scratched the back of her hear with her paw, faking itchiness which earned a strange look from Akiko. "I'll go take a piss at the Taiyoukai's chambers garden."

Akiko giggled, "You're so silly. You can't piss."

"Can't kill the habit." Dante seemed to shrug.

Akiko sighed and smiled. "Go ahead, but don't get me in trouble with the young lord." She stepped into the room and slid the door close.

Dante glared at the close door, "The young fucking lord." She snarled and ran down the way Sesshoumaru had left. She remembered well the corridors of the palace. It was a place she couldn't forget. After all, it would have been her palace if the Taiyoukai hadn't set his eyes on Sesshoumaru's mother. 'Like father, like son. They are all brainless idiots when it comes to females.' She thought angrily as she went through the paper door. She shifted to her human like form at the other side.

Sesshoumaru looked up from the scroll on the table in front of him and glared at his unexpected visit. "What the hell are you doing here bitch?"

Dante leaned on the table, bringing her face only a few centimeters away from Sesshoumaru's. "You remember right?" She hissed, "How your heart constricted the moment I entered your body that night. I could have killed you Sesshoumaru, but it was that girl who saved you from a certain death. Not even she would have been able to heal you if I had gone all the way."

Sesshoumaru stared angrily into her bloody eyes, recalling the situation she was referring to.

_It was dark, a night without moon, only the starred sky gave some light to the Earth. He watched her run, -the white of his eyes were red; enjoying the way her chest heaved and tears mixed with sweat covered her face, he ran after her. He knew he could catch her any time; she was a human after all. It pleased him to feel her fear. Every pore of his body could feel it. _

_The moment she stepped out of the forest and into the clearing where the well lied, he pounced on her back, his clawed hand pinning her down by the nape of her neck. "You thought you could escape so easily?" He snarled, "You should have known better."_

"_Listen to me Sesshoumaru!" Akiko squalled; -her eyes were bloodshot out of so much crying. She held her kodachi under her, which was useless in the position he had her on the ground, and the broken rosary was wrapped around the hilt. _

_He raised his right hand, ready to use his Dokkasou on her. "This is as far as you'll get away from me." _

_Right then, Dante in her dog form, rose out of Akiko's back and caught Sesshoumaru's neck with her fangs. He released Akiko from his hold, making futile intents of taking Dante off his neck. He felt Akiko between his legs trying to crawl out from underneath him to escape. He reached for her with is right hand, digging his claws into her upper back's skin. Akiko screamed at the searing pain, angering Dante even more. The dog spirit then disappeared into Sesshoumaru's body, and he fell backwards, lifting his weight off Akiko. _

_He clutched his chest, heaving for the first time since he begun his hunt. His eyes turned from blue slit orbs back to his normal golden ones, yet glowing with anger. He watched her rise to her feet groggily and hurry towards the well. Grunting at the pain in his chest, he yelled her name with hatred. "Akiko!"_

_Akiko leaned against the well, gasping for air, her left hand clutched over her heart. Her eyes became wide open as she felt something pierce through her heart. "Dante no!" She screamed, "Don't kill him!" _

_Dante left his body and ran to Akiko. "Hurry child! Jump in!"_

_Akiko didn't pay attention to her. Instead her emerald like eyes were set on Sesshoumaru's who was kneeling far from her staring back and catching his breath. "I must heal him. It hurts too much." She whispered, taking two steps away from the well, but Dante shifted to her other form and with full force entered her vessel, making Akiko lose control of her body due to the harshness of the merge. _

_Sesshoumaru watched how Akiko's body fell backwards into the well, and heard her cursing Dante as she fell, but soon her voice was no longer heard nor could he feel her on his skin anymore. _

"I should have killed you then." Dante growled, "I should have let her mourn your death and hate me instead of giving you a chance to kill her." She grinned evilly, "Next time, I'll get into your body and take over that rotten soul of yours. It won't be that difficult. I've already seen it and I know that you won't be able to give me a fight. Let's see how you like having the soul of a female. It will suit you well with those looks of yours."

"There won't be a next time." The youkai lord smirked at Dante. "It is too late for regrets bitch."

"It is not too late to kill you Sesshoumaru." Dante's eyes glowed with anger as she bared her teeth.

"At that time, I wasn't in total control of myself." Sesshoumaru stared at her with leer. "I won't give you that advantage again."

Dante knew he was right, -he had aged and grown stronger, but she wasn't about to admit that there was a down point in her plans. "You destroyed her. You took her smile away! You made her a soulless being ever since that night!" Her body shook with rage. "I won't forgive you for that, and I will definitely kill you if you try to harm her now." She stood straight, getting angrier at his poker face. "I won't allow you to get as close as yesterday or as that damned night. You won't lay a finger on her again!"

"You bark too much bitch." Sesshoumaru muttered, a grin forming on his lips. "She'll control you if I ask her to. How will you stop me from laying a finger on her then?"

Dante glared at him some more, wishing he would just die by self-combustion, and then stepped out of his chamber.

Sesshoumaru watched her disappear through the paper door, and his eyes fell upon the rosary bead next to the table. He had taken it away from Akiko on their way here that night. He knew that without it, she couldn't create a shield, -a shield to protect her from him.


	5. Chapter Four Back to Haven

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, its story or characters. I've just borrowed them to create this fanfic. Akiko is my original character. Don't try to sue me cause I possess nothing but my annoying, creative mind.

Haven

By Shihori

Chapter Three: Back to Haven.

Sesshoumaru was ready to stop Akiko from running away from him the moment she walked through the barrier, but the serene smile on her face when she looked at him took him totally off guard. So he remained still, observing her walk slowly towards him.

"You've finally woken up child." The blood-eyed woman smiled at Akiko. "Thought you'd never open those strange eyes of yours again."

"You must have been really bored if you decided to come out Dante." Akiko smiled warmly at the devious female spirit still holding on to Sesshoumaru. "I'm sorry. Did I sleep for so long?" She touched her forehead. "Rekai hit me very hard against the floor."

"Rekai?" Dante released the youkai lord and floated closer to Akiko. "Are you okay child?"

"Just feeling a little bit beaten, but I'm fine." She smiled and looked at the silver haired youkai. "Sesshoumaru-sama, what is going on?" She asked with a soft tone as she approached him. "Are they from the South clan?"

"South clan?" Sesshoumaru's eyebrows knitted together and he looked up to Dante who only shrugged. He simply answered with the truth. "No. They aren't."

"Why are you fighting them then? Are they new enemies coming for your father?" Her eyes expressed concern while staring at the half-breed youkai among them.

'What is wrong with her?' Sesshoumaru thought while looking down at her. "No. They're my enemies." He watched her nod as if she understood his words entirely.

"Onee-san!" Kagome ran towards them but froze when Sesshoumaru glared at her. "I'm so glad you're fine!" Tears began to well up in her eyes. "I thought he had killed you by now."

Akiko looked at the girl in strange clothes and frowned. "You're from the future."

Kagome didn't understand her words. "Of course I am silly. What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know you girl, so don't treat me with such familiarity." Akiko never liked being insulted, and she wasn't about to let a stranger call her silly in front of anyone.

Kagome felt as if her head was becoming light out of the sudden. "What are you saying Akiko? You're my sister."

"My sister isn't a high school student and that's the uniform of one." Akiko pointed out as she stepped closer to Sesshoumaru. She whispered, "Who are these strange persons my lord?" When she was only a few centimeters away from him she noticed that his left arm was missing. Her eyes went wide as she brought her hands to her lips. She looked terrified. "What happened to your arm my lord?" She touched her head looking confused. "How long did I sleep?"

"Jaken." Sesshoumaru called the toad youkai who had remained close to the barrier and far from the battleground all the time. "Take Akiko back to her chambers."

"Yes Sesshoumaru-sama!" He ran to them and looked up to Akiko who had just grabbed Sesshoumaru's left sleeve.

"Go Akiko. You must rest." Sesshoumaru spoke in his usual even tone.

"Please come with me Akiko-sama." Jaken spoke up to her.

Akiko frowned at the way he addressed her, but smiled right after. "What are you saying Jaken? Since when you call me with such high title?"

Jaken was taken by surprise and didn't know what to answer. Fortunately for him, Kagome called out for her. "Akiko! Please come to yourself! I know I said terrible things, but I didn't mean them! Stop your little act!"

Akiko frowned, "I have no idea what you're talking about girl, but I'd suggest you to go back home through the well. You don't belong here."

"Akiko! Listen to me please!" Kagome yelled, "You are my sister and I adore you! I didn't mean all I said! Actually I admire you. Always going for what you want! You're aggressive and always get what you want! Many times I've wished to be as strong as you! I mean, you're the goddess of fashion nowadays and you're only 23! No one had reached that level at such young age!"

Akiko laughed, "Stop saying nonsense girl! I can't look that old! I'm only 16 and the last thing I'd do is get involved in such hollow world as fashion's if I ever go back that is." She stopped laughing and then looked at Sesshoumaru suppressing a smile. "I'll leave you to dispose of your enemies my lord." She bowed her upper body a little. "If you'll excuse me, I shall retire to my chambers as you've requested." She walked past Dante, Jaken at her side. "Come Dante. Don't bother Sesshoumaru-sama any more. You know he doesn't like having you around."

Dante watched her go through the barrier with the toad youkai and then turned her face to Sesshoumaru who was glaring at her intently. She half grinned, "I understand. I shall keep my mouth shut. This will be interesting." Suddenly her human like form shifted to that of a big black dog and ran through the kekkai.

Kagome felt her legs lose strength and she fell t her knees. "Onee-san…" She whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

Sesshoumaru looked at her and smirked, "Hard to believe, you are related to her wench."

Inuyasha ran to cover Kagome from his brother, ready to continue their fight. "What did you do to her bastard? Why are you keeping her with you?"

"I have no obligation to give you any explanations Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru's poker face was on from the moment Akiko left.

"You bastard!" Inuyasha growled, "I'll make you explain yourself no matter what!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled, stopping him from charging towards the youkai lord. Miroku and Sango had helped her to her feet, and she was holding to Sango. "Let's go."

"But Kagome!" Inuyasha seemed confused and angry at the idea of leaving another unfinished battle with his brother, and letting him keep Kagome's sister without a fight.

"There is nothing to do." Miroku explained Kagome's decision. "Akiko-san has forgotten her sister and more so, she is on Sesshoumaru's side. Instead of rescuing her, we'd be the evil ones at her eyes."

"We must retreat for now." Sango supported Miroku's explanation. "We don't know why she's acting so strangely, and it is better to come back when we've fully understood the situation."

"Are you going to leave her at his mercy?" Inuyasha growled, looking in disbelief at the teary eyed girl. "What if he kills her before we can do anything? It's better to have her against her will with us and safe, than with him and in danger!"

Kagome sobbed softly, but forced herself to speak using a low tone. "I had never seen Akiko smile before. Something tells me she trusts him, and I'll have to do the same while she's still in this state. Let's go Inuyasha." She grabbed his arm and looked softly at him. "Let's go."

Inuyasha grunted and sheathed the Tetsaiga. Facing Sesshoumaru he warned him, "If you hurt her, I'll kill you!"

Sesshoumaru smirked, "I'd like to see you try." He watched them walk away, making sure they wouldn't turn around and try to attack when he wasn't paying attention. Once he couldn't smell them anymore, he turned and walked back into the protected area, planning what to do now that the situation had taken such a twist in his favor.

Sesshoumaru slid the door open and he noticed that Akiko was back in the futon asleep. He stepped closer and stared down at her sleeping form, looking peaceful in her dreams. "Dante." His voice echoed in the room, smooth as silk.

Dante, in her dog form stepped out from the shadows from a corner, immediately shifting to her human like form. "What are you planning to do with her?"

"That is none of your business." Sesshoumaru walked towards the doors leading out to the garden and slid them open.

"It is if you're planning to kill her," Dante seemed less amused with the situation now. "For something she doesn't even remember."

"She doesn't or she's just playing fool?" Sesshoumaru asked the demon spirit keeping his eyes on the flower garden.

"Whichever is easier for you to accept pup." Dante smirked, looking at him sideways while standing at the opposite side of the doors. "The real question here is, do you have the guts to kill her whether she does or doesn't remember?"

"Do you really need an answer?" His lips curved in a small grin.

"And you say the humans are the worthless ones..." Dante sneered at him, turning around she walked to the futon. "She is too much for you Sesshoumaru." Her body became semi-transparent as it floated downwards, merging into Akiko's.

Sesshoumaru approached the futon, bringing his right hand forward, which expelled a green acid smoke. "Maybe it is time to end this." He muttered to himself. "Break with that past once and for all." His eyes turned to cold steel as he readied himself to kill the sleeping woman.

When he was about to send her to the afterlife, the door was slid open and Rin stepped in. "Sesshoumaru-sama!" She chirped, "Didn't know you were here."

He lowered his hand and looked at the small human child. "Why are you here Rin?"

Rin walked in holding tray with a pitcher and a cup. "Jaken-san told me to bring Akiko-neesan some water to drink for when she wakes up." She knelt next to the futon and placed it on the small table next to it. "She was very nice that day you left me alone by the creek. She gave me berries and we talked for a while. Also told me that you had to be a very good youkai if you were taking care of me." She smiled back at him. "I'm glad she's here."

Sesshoumaru stared at the two humans for a moment then turned to leave the bedroom. "Come Rin." He called her and the child hurried after him, sliding the door closed.

Kagome was staring at the fire in the middle of their campsite. The wood cracked as the fire continued to consume it. Sango and Miroku were sleeping already, as well as Shippou who was curled up in her sleeping bag. Kirara slept next to Sango as well. The only ones not sleeping were Inuyasha and herself. The young demon was perched up in a branch like usual, looking at her from the tail of his eye.

She felt a knot in her chest form again and suppressed a sob, hugging her legs to her chest. "It is all my fault." She whispered to herself. "I should have accepted to leave and then convince her to let me come back."

Inuyasha sighed, tired of watching her blame herself for what had happened. Jumping off the tree branch, he walked to her and sat at her side, crossing his arms over his chest. "It is not your fault." He stated, as if that would make her think otherwise.

"It is." Kagome insisted, "Of all moments to tell her how I felt, I had to choose this place and when she was the angriest. I triggered everything. Maybe she felt so hurt by my words that she blocked herself not wanting to remember me anymore."

"I didn't know someone could just forget their lives." Inuyasha commented, looking down at Kagome.

Kagome nodded, "It is very well known in my time. I noticed the bruise on her forehead. Probably the concussion helped, but usually when someone forgets who they are or at least the most recent part of their lives is because there is an emotional trigger that make them become blocked to parts of their lives when they were the least happy, and return to the time when they were the happiest."

Inuyasha frowned, processing the information for a while and then snarled. "Are you saying her happiest time was with my brother?"

Kagome shrugged her shoulders lightly. "I have no idea. Up till now, I didn't know she could travel through the well, but she had obviously done so when she was my age. Otherwise, why would she know Sesshoumaru?"

Inuyasha asked, "But she's only what, -6 years older than you?"

"Eight actually." Kagome muttered, "Eight years older than I."

"That means she came here not so long ago. Then why did she ask the bastard if we were enemies of my father?" Inuyasha recalled her little conversation with Sesshoumaru. He was able to hear thanks to his dog-ears.

"She did?" Kagome looked up to him confused, "Then I have no idea what is going on.

Your father died a lot before you were sealed to the tree right?" She saw him nod making her sigh. "This is so confusing."

Tears welled up in her eyes again making Inuyasha fidget next to her nervously. "We'll figure out what is going on, and then we'll save her from Sesshoumaru." He said trying to encourage her.

Kagome chuckled, wiping her tears. "Save her." She looked at him, her lower lip trembling lightly. "Do you have any idea of when was the last time I saw her smile?" Inuyasha just shrugged. "I can't remember the last time I did, but today although she seemed in pain, she smiled to him!" She exclaimed, starting to get exasperated. "She never smiled for pictures, to people who greeted her warmly, or even when she was a success in Paris with her first clothes collection!"

Inuyasha's right eyebrow arched, not understanding the pictures or the Paris part. He watched her sigh again for the millionth time since they walked away from Sesshoumaru's territory, and hide her face against her knees. Feeling the urge to make her feel better, he extended his right arm towards her, but then retrieved it, deciding it was better not to hug her. "We'll reach the well in the afternoon." He muttered, hoping that his words could make her feel better. "You'll go to your time and ask your mother to explain what's going on. She must know if she's her daughter."

Kagome smiled at the last words. "We're sisters by father's side. Akiko is daughter of a famous Greek model and actress." This earned another confused look from the dog demon. "Mama says that father met her in the shrine. She was in Tokyo to work, but the shrine had called her attention being a foreigner so she had gone in. It was what they called, love at first sight, and soon the married, but that type of love doesn't work for some persons. They divorced soon after Akiko was born."

"Divorced?" So far he had understood four of all the words she had said.

Kagome smiled, knowing she was using a lot of words unknown for him. "Broke their marriage. She took Akiko with her, and father married my mother soon after, but they decided to wait to have any children since father wanted to have Akiko with them as well. When she was 7 her mother gave her to dad saying that she was holding her back."

"She abandoned her child?" Inuyasha couldn't conceive such act. "What kind of mother was she?"

"The selfish type. She kept contact with her, but it wasn't the same, mama said. She took Akiko as her own daughter, and soon I was born." She smiled serenely while staring at the flames flicker. "Mama says that Akiko was always protective of me, and more so of Souta when he was born."

Inuyasha tried to give her hopes. "Then maybe your mother knows what happened to her here. You told your mother, so probably she did too."

"I can only hope so." Kagome sighed, "Otherwise, I don't know how we'll find out."

Inuyasha rose to his feet. "You should go rest. It's been a long day." He turned around and went back to his tree branch.

Kagome stood up and looked back at him, smiling. "Thank you Inuyasha, for listening to me. I really needed it."

"Feh!" He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to keep the tough guy pose, and looked away. "I just want to solve this fast so we can continue looking for the Shikon shards."

Kagome smiled at him, knowing in her heart that he was genuinely worried about her making her feel safe. "Good night Inuyasha." She whispered and went to the sleeping bag, carefully slipping in not to wake Shippou. She closed her eyes the moment her head hit the small pillow, and sighed. 'Everything will be alright.'

Akiko opened her eyes slowly, finally waking up from her long slumber. She rolled to her back, staring at the wood ceiling for a while and then smiled. "That was such a nice dream." She whispered to herself, a soft blush on her cheeks. With a sigh, she sat up and noticed a nicely folded kimono at the corner of the large futon.

She crawled out of the quilt and took into her hands the beautiful red silk kimono with white petals design. Under the kimono there was a thick white obi with two decorated combs on it, and a small velvet pouch next to it. "This is so beautiful…" She whispered, a wide smile on her face.

Stepping out of the futon, she undressed, changing into the new kimono, which was perfect fit. It felt like a caresses over her skin. She opened the pouch and brought out its contents. She smiled and giggled; "So strange…who would put my brush and comb in a pouch instead of leaving it on my dresser?" She looked up to where she remembered her dresser was and frowned. "Where's my dresser?"

Looking around the room she noticed that it was furniture less except for the futon. "Where are my mats and table? And my vase with flowers?"

Dante floated out of her back, feeling her vessel become exalted. "It's so early and you're already having a heart attack child?"

Akiko frowned, "Not funny. Where's everything Dante?"

The youkai spirit shrugged, "Ask the pup."

"Stop calling him pup." She reprimanded her, "You know he hates it."

"Exactly why I do it." Dante eyed the girl sitting at the futon. "That's a beautiful kimono you're wearing."

Akiko's face immediately beamed with happiness. "Isn't it?" She straightened her left sleeve with the right hand. "It must be a present of Taiyoukai-sama for protecting Inu-chan and milady." She sighed, looking sad for a moment. "Who would have thought that Rekai had only been waiting for the right moment to take revenge on the great lord? It would have killed him if his child and woman would have died then." She smiled at Dante. "But I am thankful to you. If you wouldn't have come out and defended me, I'd be dead for now.

Dante sighed, "Sure thing." She waved her hand at her, "Come on, turn around. I'll do your hair since there's no mirrors in this room." Akiko turned around smiling. "Thank you!"

Dante gathered her hair and took the gold comb with red stones embedded at the sides. She began untangling her hair. 'So he kept her brush and comb.' She smirked, 'I understand males less each time I try.'

"I'm so lucky to have you." Akiko said in a cheerful tone, bringing Dante out of her thoughts. "At first you were annoying as hell, and still are from time to time, -well most of the time, but I think I can get used to you. I don't feel lonely anymore. You're the closest I have to a friend." She sighed happily. "I'm so happy here. How long is it that I've been here? Almost a year right?" Dante didn't reply. "It's been a year since father died. I thought I would never find solace, but I did from the moment Sesshoumaru-sama's mother took me under her wing. Since then this place has been my haven, -the only place where I've felt this blissful."

Dante didn't reply at this, but stared sadly at her. She knew the reason of her happiness was the one demon that wanted her to suffer a slow, painful death. Sighing, she continued to brush her long tresses until they were soft as the silk the young woman was wearing, and then held it to her head in big curls with the gold and jade combs. She finished by brushing Akiko's bangs over her forehead to cover the slowly disappearing bruise. "There you go. More beautiful than any of the Taiyoukai's bitches."

Akiko chuckled, "What are you saying Dante? Until the other day, you were saying I was the ugliest thing on Earth."

"Changed my mind." She shrugged, "Now go get something to eat. You haven't eaten in four days now." Dante floated into her body ending their conversation.

Akiko stood up and looked down at herself. "Wish I could see myself in a mirror." She sighed, "Oh well, that doesn't matter." She went to the door and slid it open, stepping into the hallway. "Strange." She whispered to herself rubbing her arms that were suddenly cold. "Everything is so quiet and dark in the middle of the morning."

"Akiko-sama!" Jaken called out from behind her.

She turned around and smiled, "Again you address me that way Jaken. Why is that?"

Jaken stammered, "Ah…no reason in particular." He held a tray with hot food. "I've brought your breakfast. Sesshoumaru-sama ordered me to wake you up and make you eat, but I see that won't be necessary."

"Since when the food is brought to my chamber?" Akiko asked confused, but always smiling.

"Ah….I…" Jaken didn't know what to reply. His master had informed him of Akiko's loss of memory but hadn't told him what to say in cases like this.

"Since you saved the half breed and his mother." Sesshoumaru walked out from the shadows behind Jaken. "Jaken, take her food to her chamber." He ordered the servant, wishing him out of his sight. Jaken just nodded and entered her room.

"Good morning Sesshoumaru-sama." Akiko smiled warmly at him. "Could you tell me where your father is? I'd like to thank him for this beautiful kimono."

Sesshoumaru's eyes took in Akiko's looks. Despite the paleness of her face caused by the lack of feeding in the last days, she glowed with a childish, somewhat naive happiness. He had remembered her likes in colors and patterns. Anything bright and flowery was her style. "They're gone." He said, not telling her that the kimono was a present from him and not from his father. "Took them to a safer place."

"Safer than the palace?" Akiko blinked, "Can't imagine that." She smiled and shrugged her shoulders lightly. "But I guess this place isn't as safe as I thought. After all Rekai had been here for so long only waiting for the perfect moment." Her eyes drifted to his empty left sleeve, and her eyes showed some sadness. "Sesshoumaru-sama, may I ask-"

"You may not." He answered coldly, knowing what she was about to ask just from the look in her eyes. "Now go feed yourself." He turned around and walked back the way he had come.

Akiko smiled thinking that he was finally showing concern for her. "Hopefully someday," She whispered to herself, "I will be able to take down his shields, and make him change his mind about me."

"Don't dream child." Dante said as she floated out of her body in the dog form. "Now go back inside and eat."

"You must come with me too. He's around and you know he doesn't like you wandering around, so come on." Akiko said in a serious tone, walking towards the open door.

"Who cares?" Dante snarled, "I don't."

"I do." Akiko pointed out, "So please Dante."

"He's not worth it." Dante replied and scratched the back of her hear with her paw, faking itchiness which earned strange look from Akiko. "I'll go take a piss at the Taiyoukai's chambers garden."

Akiko giggled, "You're so silly. You can't piss."

"Can't kill the habit." Dante seemed to shrug.

Akiko sighed and smiled. "Go ahead, but don't get me in trouble with the young lord." She stepped into the room and slid the door close.

Dante glared at the close door, "The young fucking lord." She snarled and ran down the way Sesshoumaru had left. She remembered well the corridors of the palace. It was a place she couldn't forget. After all, it would have been her palace if the Taiyoukai hadn't set his eyes on Sesshoumaru's mother. 'Like father, like son. They are all brainless idiots when it comes to females.' She thought angrily as she went through the paper door. She shifted to her human like form at the other side.

Sesshoumaru looked up from the scroll on the table in front of him and glared at his unexpected visit. "What the hells are you doing here bitch?"

Dante leaned on the table, bringing her face only a few centimeters away from Sesshoumaru's. "You remember right?" She hissed, "How your heart constricted the moment I entered your body that night. I could have killed you Sesshoumaru, but it was that girl who saved you from a certain death. Not even her would have been able to heal you if I had gone all the way."

Sesshoumaru stared angrily into her bloody eyes, recalling the situation she was referring to.

_It was dark, a night without moon, only the starred sky gave some light to the Earth. He watched her run, -the white of his eyes were red, enjoying the way her chest heaved and tears mixed with sweat covered her face. He knew he could catch her any time; she was a human after all. It pleased him to feel her fear. Every pore of his body could feel it. _

_The moment she stepped out of the forest and into the clearing where the well lied, he pounced on her back, his clawed hand pinning her down by the neck. "You thought you could escape so easily?" He snarled, "You should have known better."_

"_Listen to me Sesshoumaru!" Akiko squalled; -her eyes were bloodshot out of so much crying. She held her kodachi under her, which was useless in the position he had her on the ground, and the broken rosary was wrapped around the hilt. _

_He raised his right hand, ready to use his Dokkasou on her. "This is as far as you'll get away from me." _

_Right then, Dante in her dog form, rose out of Akiko's back and caught Sesshoumaru's neck with her fangs. He released Akiko from his hold, making futile intents of taking Dante off his neck. He felt Akiko between his legs trying to crawl out from underneath him to escape. He reached for her with is right hand, digging his claws into her upper back's skin. Akiko screamed at the searing pain, angering Dante even more. The dog spirit then disappeared into Sesshoumaru's body, and he fell backwards, lifting his weight off Akiko. _

_He clutched his chest, heaving for the first time since he begun his hunt. His eyes turned from blue slit orbs back to his normal golden ones, yet glowing with anger. He watched her rise to her feet groggily and hurry towards the well. Grunting at the pain in his chest, he yelled her name with hatred. "Akiko!"_

_Akiko leaned against the well, gasping for air, her left hand clutched over her heart. Her eyes became wide open as she felt something pierce through her heart. "Dante no!" She screamed, "Don't kill him!" _

_Dante left his body and ran to Akiko. "Hurry child! Jump in!"_

_Akiko didn't pay attention to her. Instead her emerald like eyes were set on Sesshoumaru's who was kneeling far from her staring back and catching his breath. "I must heal him. It hurts too much." She whispered, taking two steps away from the well, but Dante shifted to her other form and with full force entered her vessel, making Akiko lose control of her body due to the harshness of the merge. _

_Sesshoumaru watched how Akiko's body fell backwards into the well, and heard her cursing Dante as she fell, but soon her voice was no longer heard nor he could feel her on his skin anymore. _

"I should have killed you then." Dante growled, "I should have let her mourn your death and hate me instead of giving you a chance to kill her." She grinned evilly, "Next time, I'll get into your body and take over that rotten soul of yours. It won't be that difficult. I've already seen it and I know that you won't be able to give me a fight. Let's see how you like having the soul of a female. It will suit you well with those looks of yours."

"There won't be a next time." The youkai lord smirked at Dante. "It is too late for regrets bitch."

"It is not too late to kill you Sesshoumaru." Dante's eyes glowed with anger as she bared her teeth.

"At that time, I wasn't in total control of myself." Sesshoumaru stared at her with leer. "I won't give you that advantage again."

Dante knew he was right, -he had aged and grown stronger, but she wasn't about to admit that there was a down point in her plans. "You destroyed her. You took her smile away! You made her a soulless being ever since that night!" Her body shook with rage. "I won't forgive you for that, and I'll will definitely kill you if you try to harm her now." She stood straight, getting angrier at his poker face. "I won't allow you to get as close as yesterday or as that damned night. You won't lay a finger on her again!"

"You bark too much bitch." Sesshoumaru muttered, a grin forming on his lips. "She'll control you if I ask her to. How will you stop me from laying a finger on her then?"

Dante glared at him some more, wishing he would just die by self-combustion, and then stepped out of his chamber.

Sesshoumaru watched her disappear through the paper door, and his eyes fell upon the rosary bead next to the table. He had taken it away from Akiko on their way here that night. He knew that without it, she couldn't create a shield, -a shield to protect her from him.

To my readers: Thank you lots for reading my story and I hope you're liking it so far. Right now I'm with a Sesshie obsession after watching episode 77 so bear with me. Probably will venture into a Inu-chan/Kagome part within the story.

To my reviewers:

Kouri-chan: hehehe I know I don't have to thank you for reading my story cause you always read them, and I feed your addiction, but thank you lots my dearest friend! And thank you for helping me out with basic Inuyasha information.

*goes Excel mode* Hail Sesshie-sama!

Phoebes: Tried emailing you back but hotmail was being stupid for some reason and wouldn't let me. I'm glad you liked Akiko and hope you don't dislike me for what I've done to her in the last two chaps, but don't worry…she'll be back to herself soon...

hmm…well someday. Isn't Sesshie to die for? -obsession-


	6. Chapter Five Curse or Gift?

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, its story or characters. I've just borrowed them to create this fanfic. Akiko is my original character. Don't try to sue me cause I possess nothing but my annoying, creative mind.

Haven

By Shihori

Chapter Five: Is it a curse or a gift?

Kagome pulled out the big, yellow backpack from the well, sighing heavily. She was inside the shrine and it was only a matter of minutes to meet her family again. Usually she felt happy to be back, knowing she could share some time with them and relax from her quest, but this time it was somewhat different. She was bearing bad news and she had provoked them.

She shook her head trying to dismiss that thought. "It's useless to keep blaming myself like Sango said. What I have to do is find a way to help her!"

The brunette grabbed the backpack, and carried it on her back as she walked out of the shrine, headed for the Higurashi house. She opened the door and called out, "I'm home!" Taking off her shoes and dropping the bag at the entrance, she walked into the dinning-living room since it was about lunchtime.

"Kagome! Welcome back!" Mama smiled warmly at her daughter, she was already serving her some food. "Sit down. You must be starving."

"You didn't bring Inuyasha no onii-chan?" Souta asked, looking at the door. "Wasn't Akiko-neessan with you? Mama said she went through the well." Kagome paled at his question.

"Sit down Kagome. You're pale." Oujii-san said looking up at her. "You must be hungry."

Kagome sat down opposite to her brother, with her eyes shadowed by her bangs. "We did meet, but we had an argument. She said she was coming back, and Inuyasha's older brother captured her. Now she doesn't remember me and seems to be comfortable with that youkai that has who knows what plans for her." She muttered quickly, not wanting to get into details. She looked up with tears in her eyes to her mother. "The thing is that I don't know what to do to get her back. She thinks she's 16 for heaven's sake!"

"Slow down Kagome." Her grandfather moved over to her side. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying she doesn't remember me at this age and that she is with a youkai who hates Inuyasha willingly." Kagome looked up at her mother worriedly. "Does the name Sesshoumaru ring a bell mama?"

"Not at all." Mama shook her head looking very distressed. "My poor child."

Kagome sighed, "Mama, did you know she could travel through the well? I need you to tell me all you know. Akiko is very close to you, she must have told you something."

"After my son's death," Oujii-san spoke up, "Your sister disappeared for a whole week. She had been very distressed over not being able to heal her dad's wounds which killed him eventually in that hospital bed."

"Heal?" Kagome muttered, "How so?"

"Your father never let her heal your knee scratches or any small wound you made yourself, so you never knew of her ability." Mama explained, "But Akiko has the ability to heal, although it has its limits. We guess she can't heal someone close to death, just like your father was when she tried. I think she always blamed herself for that."

"She disappeared from the day he died. We were all so beaten by the situation that we didn't notice she was missing two days after, in the funeral." Oujii-san sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "A few days later we found her in the well's shrine curled up crying in a corner. Wearing some expensive kimono and a terrible wound on her back."

"She said she had spent two years in the past. That she had disobeyed her dad's only request to her, -not going inside the shrine." Mama shook her head wiping a single tear running down her cheek. "Akiko was never the same again. She never told us what happened to her during that time, and she avoided us every time we asked. Soon she became the person we know nowadays, -cold, almost emotionless, aggressive in her work, distant from her family." She looked at Souta who had moved to her side, and hugged the child. "What are we going to do Kagome?"

Kagome sighed and shook her head. "Pray that she'll come back to herself, but…she seemed so happy next to him it is scary." She looked up to her mother, breaking into tears. "She was smiling mama. Can you imagine our Akiko smiling?" Her mother held her arm out for her and Kagome gave into her embrace, letting all her guilt flow out in the form of tears.

Akiko tied a knot on her under-robe's sash and sat down on a stool to comb her wet hair. "This place is awfully quiet without the pup." She said softly moving the comb slowly through the thick tresses.

'There aren't many servants either. Only that butt ugly toad the brat keeps as servant and a little human girl.' Dante spoke from within her.

"A human girl?" Akiko was surprised, "Didn't think that Sesshoumaru would keep a human in the palace. Usually the great lord wouldn't leave a human under his son's mercy."

'What mercy are you speaking of?'

Akiko smiled, knowing that Dante had to be smirking at the moment. "Figure of speech."

'Well, you're here too, at his mercy.'

"That is different. I was hurt. Probably being his considerate self, the great lord decided to leave me here till I fully recover." Akiko grabbed a thick, fluffy cloth and patted her hair dry again. "I'd like to meet that girl."

'It is strange that you haven't. She's always running around like a fool.'

"Children are like that." Akiko smiled and combed her hair again to help it dry faster.

'You're not.'

Akiko chuckled, "I'm not a child Dante."

'Next to me you are.'

"I haven't lived for centuries, but that doesn't mean I'm a child. I'm a young woman. " The green-eyed woman gathered her hair and began braiding it.

'You're a child to me and let's leave it there.'

"You're just like my mother. At her eyes I'm not older than a 5 years old. Someone who will never be able to fit in her shoes." Her tone was somewhat bitter. "Probably if she wouldn't have made me aside, I would have learned to be like her."

Dante remained silent for a moment, and then replied. 'You're above that child. Trust me, you are.'

Akiko looked up to the starred sky, -next to her the hot wood tub continued to release steam. "Isn't that beautiful? In my time, where I live, you can't see them. Clouds of contamination hide them from us all the time. Here you don't cough after taking a deep breath." She smiled, not receiving any reply. "I'll stop babbling then."

'It is getting cold. Soon it will be autumn. I love autumn the most.'

"Autumn." Akiko muttered, "For some reason, just the thought of it makes me uneasy. Even though I was born in autumn, I don't like it just like winter. They represent death to me."

Dante didn't reply, knowing the reason to this. It was during the first days of autumn that she had to run away to save her life. Her memory might fail her, but her guts won't. The youkai spirit could only hope that the girl she had learned to care for as a child of her own, would realize the dangerous situation she is in. She would gladly tell her everything, give her all the proofs needed, but this Akiko would never doubt her young lord by words of someone she didn't trust at that time. 'Put on your kimono Akiko. You'll catch a cold with that wet hair. Never understood why you like to take baths at night.'

Akiko grabbed the dark green kimono with a pattern of cherry tree branches in bloom, and slipped her arms into the armholes. "Because I like to stare at the stars. There is nothing more beautiful than a starry sky." She wrapped the obi around her waste, making a simple bow at her back. "Father used to show me all the constellations while drinking hot chocolate during cold nights, or iced tea in the hot ones."

'Go inside Akiko. You'll only upset yourself if you keep watching that cursed sky.'

Akiko smiled sadly and stepped into the bathhouse, carrying the little velvet pouch with her brush and comb inside. She walked in silence through the candle lit hallways in the huge palace, -a traditional Japanese building, memories invading her mind.

"_I know I won't live long child." A tall youkai female with long silver hair and a blue crescent moon on her forehead spoke to young Akiko as they walked down the dimly lit hallways. "I could see it that night when you exorcised that malevolent spirit out of my body."_

_Akiko looked up to the older woman, "Nadeshiko-sama, I could always try again. Probably my senses got confused with all-"_

"_If there is something that will never fail you Akiko is your gift's accuracy when it comes to life or death. Don't blame yourself for not being able to save every single being you try to heal. Don't try to fool yourself. " Her voice was as smooth as silk, and her face remained serene while she spoke to the human. "That spirit wished to end my life before my time, and your hands granted me the opportunity to live a little more than what I was supposed to."_

"_I just wish" Akiko looked down at her thin fingered hands. "I could do more for you milady. You've been so kind to me. I hate to know that you're slowly dieing and I won't be able to do anything to help, just like the night he died."_

_They stopped before a pair of paper doors, and the youkai brought Akiko's chin up with her clawed forefinger underneath it. "Things happen for a reason child. I can't tell you why your father had to die, or why I must abandon this life as well. I can only guess it is to teach you and my loved ones that nothing is forever; everything must be appreciated, and every second spent with our precious ones must be cherished." She patted Akiko's head with a warm smile on her lips. "Go and rest well tonight. I'll take you with us to survey the western land's borders." _

_Akiko bowed and smiled softly, "Yes milady." She watched her slid the doors open and walk gracefully into the master chambers, closing the doors behind her. She whispered to herself looking sadly at the paper doors. "I still wish I could do more for you and make up for my mistakes."_

Akiko stood in front of the rice paper doors staring at them. There was no light coming through from the other side. She brought her hands forward, staring down at the palms, -the velvet string from the bag wrapped around the right middle finger. A pair of tears dropped into her hands.

"What are you doing here?" Sesshoumaru's voice boomed in the silence of the corridor. He seemed upset for some reason.

Akiko smiled and muttered as she wiped her tears. "Walking old paths, remembering cherished seconds of my life."

"You mean, remembering your failures and regretting them." His voice was even, but his word carried a bitter tone.

Akiko looked at him with a serene countenance, but her eyes were still a little blood shot. "I can't never forgive myself for not being able to heal her, but your mother seemed to accept it better than any of us." Her eyes became somewhat hard provoked by Sesshoumaru's stone glare on her. "She never blamed me, and that is enough for me. If you want to blame someone for her loss blame life for not wanting her anymore, blame death for wanting her at its side, but not me Sesshoumaru-sama. I carry the destinies of no one on my hands!"

He watched her stride away wanting to rip her throat open, get rid of her guts which he hated the most. Deep inside though, whenever he thought about it, it was her boldness what had allowed her to stay alive. Sesshoumaru, although he'd never admit it to anyone, knew that Akiko was special, not like every human that had served in this castle in old times or the ones he had encountered in the forests and killed while they cried for mercy.

'She is always transparent.' He thought, still staring the way she had disappeared. 'When we were first introduced…' He recalled that memory, -Akiko dressed in a peasant's kimono and her hair done in two braids, bowing and then staring directly into his eyes with a smile on her lips. 'When we met again after more than a century.' He thought back to the night when he had been fighting Inuyasha, -the moment when Akiko walked into their battle ground dressed in priestess kimono, her burning, green eyes never left his until he turned away.

Sesshoumaru walked down the dull wood corridors, not wearing his armor or carrying his swords, only his pristine clothes. He pondered over the human's attitude. 'Her eyes always show what she feels. Happiness when she was taken under mother's wing; anger when I stood in her way that night. Any normal, weakling human would have fallen to its knees and pleaded not to be killed. Instead, she faced me with her pathetic sword knowing she couldn't win over me.' He stopped in front of the paper doors that lead into her chambers. 'She is as insolent as that mutt, but in her it is somewhat admirable.'

"I sniffed something rotten and knew it had to be you." Dante spoke as she went through the doors, her chest only two centimeters way from his, and her hands on her hips. "She's already tucked in. Oh! But wait, that's your favorite style of killing right? When the victim is totally oblivious to her faith. "

Sesshoumaru glared down at her. 'And before me I have the greatest down point to Akiko's personality.' He thought and grunted, "If I kill her, it will be solely to get rid of your annoying self. I'd suggest you to stop appearing before me unless you want to lose your vessel, leech." He turned and continued walking down the hallway.

Dante crossed her arms over her chest, wearing the same dark green kimono as Akiko earlier. 'Why is it so difficult for you Sesshoumaru?' She thought staring at the youkai's wide back. 'That is the only thing I respected of your father. He didn't care about what others would think of him mating with a human. You instead declared her your toy and acted possessively as if she was your mate.' She made a 'hmph' sound and went back inside. 'I'll never get to understand that brat.' Taking her dog form she stepped onto the futon and rested her big head on Akiko's thigh and closed her eyes.

Shippou played with Kirara close to the well while Inuyasha sits on a branch from a nearby tree. Sango and Miroku are sitting at the grassy hill's feet while watching the fox youkai child play.

"It must be truly difficult for Kagome-sama." Miroku muttered, beginning a conversation. "I mean, this whole situation."

"Yes. I can somewhat relate." Sango said looking sad. "When Kohaku couldn't remember me I felt devastated. Kagome-chan must be feeling somewhat the same. It is not easy to be a stranger at your sibling's eyes."

Miroku leaned back on his left arm, his staff laying at a side. "But Kohaku was controlled by Naraku, and we don't know if Akiko-san is controlled by Sesshoumaru some how."

"She must be. Otherwise, how would she be so calm around him?" Sango frowned, "I really didn't understand that memory loss explanation Kagome gave us. She must be under some spell or something."

"If so, there must be a way to reverse it, but if Kagome-sama is right, it will be more difficult to save her from him." Miroku's right hand slowly crept towards Sango.

"Kagome-chan is taking long don't you think?" Sango said in a low tone. "Inuyasha is starting to grow impatient."

Miroku looked at the half breed demon who was swinging a leg at a side and his brow was scrunched over closed eyes. "I hope Kagome-sama does come back today as she promised, otherwise Inuyasha will be unbearable." He chuckled, "Probably will end up jumping into the well when were not watching and go bring her back."

Sango smiled, "I wonder when show his feelings for her openly. It is all to obvious that Kagome-chan is very important to him." Suddenly, she gasped, her face slowly turning a bright shade of red, followed by a furious glow in her eyes. She turned around quickly and her hand met Miroku's face with force sending him down on his back. Without a word, she stomped away from him and sat at the well, glaring at him.

Miroku rubbed his cheek and muttered to himself, "I was just showing my feelings openly."

Inuyasha, who had watched the whole thing, smirked. 'He definitely loves being hit.'

"Kagome-chan!" Sango exclaimed, helping the girl out of the well. "How did it go?"

"Kagome!" Shippou chirped and ran to the well with Kirara.

"Did you get any answers?" Miroku came to them, still rubbing his cheek.

Inuyasha went to meet her and frowned at Kagome's tired countenance. "What did your mother say?" He asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

"There is not much to say." Kagome said softly. "I was thinking Inuyasha, if Akiko mentioned your father, that means she met him when she first came here. Probably Myoga-jiji could answer our questions."

"It is still strange. Father died more than 100 yrs ago. Your sister can't be that old unless she's a youkai and she isn't." Inuyasha muttered, grabbing the backpack from her, which earned him a surprised look but he looked away. "Lets go back to Kaede-baba's hut." Ignoring everyone's looks, he stomped away carrying the bag over his shoulder.

Rin sat at a rock in the huge Zen garden weaving a crown of flowers while humming a song. She didn't notice when someone walked up to her.

"That's a beautiful flower crown." Akiko said softly, giggling at the startled girl. "I'm sorry. Did I scare you?"

"Akiko-neesan!" Rin jumped off the rock excitedly. "I'm so glad to see you!"

Akiko found odd the way the girl was addressing her, but made it aside. She knelt on the grass and picked up the flowers that had fallen from Rin's lap. "Who are you making the crown for?"

"Nobody." Rin knelt down in front of her and smiled broadly, "Mom taught me how to do them, and I practice so I won't forget."

"But you shouldn't take away a being's life for no reason." Akiko leaned over and tied another flower to the crown. "If you do so, may it be for a good reason so their life won't be gone for nothing." She smiled, "Not to mention that such beautiful job shouldn't be wasted."

Rin looked at her for a moment, trying to understand her words, and then she smiled widely. "I'll give them to Sesshoumaru-sama!"

"Ah…that's a good idea." Akiko smiled, throwing back a lock of hair over her shoulder which she had let loose today. "I'll help you if you like."

Rin nodded effusively, "Please do! It will be a present from both of us to him for saving us!"

Akiko looked at the girl who was working on the crown, with a confused look. "Saved us?" She took a flower and weaved it with the others.

"Yes!" Rin smiled, "Jaken-san says that Sesshoumaru-sama felt pity for me, and that's why he brought me back."

Akiko understood less of the girl's words now, but decided to go back to the first part. "And why you say he saved me?"

Rin blinked her brown eyes at her. "You were badly hurt when-"

"Rin." Sesshoumaru said the girl's name with an authoritative tone as he stepped closer to them.

Rin smiled brightly and ran up to him, dropping the crown off her lap. "Yes Sesshoumaru-sama?" She stood in front of him with her head tilted all the way back.

"Didn't I tell you not to bother Akiko?" He said, looking seriously down at her.

"She wasn't bothering me. I was the one who looked for her." Akiko grabbed the crown and weaved the last flower to it. She stood up to face him, holding the flower crown gently. "Dante told me there was another human in the palace and I was curious to meet her."

Rin looked back at her, blinking. "But we had already met, remember? At the creek?"

'This girl says confusing things.' Akiko thought looking down at the child, but decided to leave that for later. A smile twitched at the corners of her lips when looking up to him. "Rin-chan did this for you, her savior." She stood on tiptoes and placed the crown on his head, suppressing the giggles at the bored look on his face.

"You look so pretty Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin chirped and ran around him, exclaiming. "I'm so happy!"

Akiko didn't know what was funnier, if Rin's reaction or Sesshoumaru's glare directed to her for putting the crown on him. "Rin-chan, darling, go to the kitchen and see if lunch is ready."

"Yes Akiko-oneesan!" Rin ran away happily and called into the palace as she hurried inside. "Jaken-san!"

Akiko couldn't hold it back any longer and smiled widely, looking innocently at him. "Do I have to make an escapade too before you kill me my lord?"

"You humans and your pathetic-" Sesshoumaru grunted, reaching over his head to take off the annoying thing, but was taken for surprise when Akiko leaned on him, slightly slapping his hand away and taking the crown off first.

"It was your mother who taught me how to do flower crowns, and she wasn't human." She placed it over her head and smiled brightly. "I think I'll keep it, since you would destroy that child's hard work with only a glare at it." Before he could say anything, she ran away from him. If she would have looked back as she entered the palace, she could have seen a small smile twitch at a corner of the youkai's lips.

To my readers: Thank you for reading and following this story. To my reviewers:

**Kouri-chan:** Chapter 4 is done and Chapter 5 is baking, soon to come out of the oven. Waiting for you to show up to ask your opinion on it. Chapter 6 will be written this Saturday for sure. Thank you again for the info search. =)

**Velvet Twilight:** There's not much about Dante for now. And yeah, she's very possessive (in a good way) of her vessel which makes her dislike Sesshie even more. Focused totally on Sesshie-Akiko relationship for now, but I'll definitely try to do a Inu-Kag somewhere in the story. If not, in the second part (which might happen, might not) will me Inu-Kag lots. I'm mostly waiting for the series to give a definite turn on their relationship for me to give me its twist. Glad you like it so far and thank you for reviewing .

Plans: A second part for this story, and probably a pre-Haven story based on Dante, Akiko, and Sesshie. If anyone can send an earthquake and destroy my university, then I can assure this two stories.

Notes: If I'm starting to sound repetitive know it is caused by stress and tiredness, but I simply can't stop writing this story nor stop studying for my tests. -


	7. Chapter Six You and I

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, its story or characters. I've just borrowed them to create this fanfic. Akiko is my original character. Don't try to sue me cause I possess nothing but my annoying, creative mind.

Haven

By Shihori

Chapter Five: You and I

Kirara carrying Sango, Kagome, Miroku and Shippou, landed on the layer of black rock in front of a cave. Inuyasha joined them right after, and stomped into the cave. "Totousai!" He called into the cave as he walked in, followed by the others.

Inuyasha felt a prick on his neck and smacked whatever had bitten him. He looked down to his hand and smirked, "Just who I was looking for."

"Inuyasha-sama!" exclaimed Myoga as he inflated himself again. "Is there any problem with the Tetsusaiga? Totosuai has gone out to look for some material to work on, but he'll be back soon!"

"Actually we were looking for you Myoga-jiji. Inuyasha guessed you could be here." Kagome peered over Inuyasha's shoulder. "We need to ask you something."

"Ask away!" Myoga exclaimed, jumping to Inuyasha's shoulder so he could be closer to Kagome.

"We need you to tell us about Kagome-chan's sister, Akiko-san." Miroku said as he and Sango came closer.

"Akiko?" Myoga frowned, thinking hard. "I don't know any Akiko. Didn't know you had a sister! Why would I know about her?"

Inuyasha grabbed him and grunted, "You were always next to my father so you should know her. Seems that she traveled here long ago just like Kagome, and somehow met my father and that bastard Sesshoumaru."

Myoga's eyes widened and gasped, "Oh my! That Akiko you mean?" He emphasized the word that.

Inuyasha sat down, and the others followed suit, Kagome closest to him. "So you do know her."

"Tell us all you know Myoga-jiji! It is very important." Kagome asked effusively.

"I can't…" He shook his little head, "If Sesshoumaru ever finds out that you know, he'll know I was the one who talked, and he'll search me out and kill me!"

"Why would he go through so much trouble?" Sango asked, not understanding the negative from the youkai tick.

"Because he killed everyone who ever met her, except Inuyasha-sama that was a pup at that time and your lady mother since he had taken the two of you personally out of the western territory." Myoga explained himself; "He went crazy when she escaped the palace."

Inuyasha's eyes were fixated on the tick as he grunted. "Well you better speak to us, or it will be me who kills you!"

Myoga stammered and sighed, "Alright." He jumped off his hand and up to a burnt log from last night's fire. "It was 105 years ago if I'm not mistaken. Sesshoumaru's mother had been suffering of terrible pains and your father, the great Taiyoukai, was informed that it was a curse from an old enemy. So he and his only son at that time went after that evil youkai."

"Who's interested in that bastard's mother?" Inuyasha growled, "Tell us about Akiko and her relationship to my father and that idiot."

"Let me tell the story my way!" Myoga flailed his little arms, earning a bored look from the dog youkai. He cleared his voice and continued. "An old friend of your father had taken into his service a human girl who had healed him from a terrible wound. When he learned from his son Ryoukei, who lived at palace as one of your father's generals and also sparing partner to Sesshoumaru, that the lady Nadeshiko was dieing, he took the human girl, Akiko-chan, to the palace. There she used her healing powers on your father's mate at that time."

"And she saved her! We know she can heal." Inuyasha snapped, getting impatient with the story. "Why don't you get to the important pa-"

"Osuwari!" Kagome said sending Inuyasha crashing to the hard volcanic rock floor.

"What was that for?" He snarled still kissing the floor.

"So you'll shut up! This is important for me! If I want to understand what is going on, might as well listen to the whole story!" Kagome yelled at him.

"As I was saying," Myoga sat down, crossing his legs. "The girl seemed to have tamed a youkai soul, a female inuyoukai who was rejected by your father in preference of Nadeshiko-sama. So when the pain the lady was feeling passed into the girl, the lord and Sesshoumaru came in. Sesshoumaru being his usual self got enraged over the human girl touching his mother and almost killed her. At that moment, the dog spirit, Umade, I believe was her name, flew out of the girl's body bringing out of Nadeshiko-sama's body the evil spirit that was killing her as well, saving the lady. Your father then ordered that the girl be disposed off since Umade lived within her, but Nadeshiko-sama asked him to for the girl to be in her service since she trusted the girl would keep in control the dog spirit she carried."

"So that is how she arrived to the western lands and met Sesshoumaru, but why is he so interested on keeping her?" Sango asked, caressing Kirara's head.

"Keeping her?" Myoga frowned, "What are you saying? He killed her."

Kagome shook her head, "Akiko is alive for what we know. A week ago she came here looking for me, we had a fight, and she went into the woods alone at night. When we went after her, all we found was the sword father gave to her, and Inuyasha picked Sesshoumaru's scent."

Myoga took in the information, looking very confused. "When he came back to palace after hunting her down, his claws were bathed in her blood. I knew the smell of her blood cause she kindly let me drink of her when she read in the archives with the lord or Sesshoumaru." He smiled as if remembering something sweet. "Her blood was the best I've drank from a human, sweeter than any other. And I was very picky at that time."

"What happened between her and Sesshoumaru? Why he wanted to kill her?" Kagome asked, making him go back to the story.

Myoga crossed his arms over his tiny, round chest. "At that time Sesshoumaru despised any being weaker than him, youkai, half breeds, and humans a like -not that today he is that different , so Akiko-chan wasn't the exception, but since she was her mother's protégée, - and after her death she became your father's as well, he couldn't lay a finger on her without getting into trouble. She was named the court's healer, and she was taken to territorial battles as such, much to Sesshoumaru's annoyance. He used to call her 'mother's toy', and didn't treat her better than a piece of furniture." The tick's voice seemed upset at these memories. "But Akiko-chan wasn't about to let him treat her as such, and stood up to him one and a thousand times, surviving each of them without help of her protectors. I remember she never complained at them. She was the kind of person who'd solve her problems on her own."

He paused for a second and then said, thinking out loud, "What was it that she said to him when he tried killing her for being insolent as he said…" He seemed to think hard for a moment and then a spark lighted his mind. "She used to say, 'If you're to kill me with your claws or your sword, do it now. I may be human and weak, but I'm not afraid of death, much less of you!'" The tick laughed. "Oh.. She was bold and that ticked off Sesshoumaru a great deal."

Kagome smiled, realizing that there wasn't much difference between that Akiko and the one she knew. "It ticks off a lot of people back in our time, but has also gained her a lot of respect from those who know her."

"All you've said Myoga-jiji, makes me wonder even more so, why he didn't kill her then? Why hadn't he killed her by the time we went to his palace?" Miroku had been studying every word the tick had said and couldn't figure out Sesshoumaru's actions.

"That's a good question Houshi-sama." Sango nodded who sat next to him.

"Maybe he is in love with her." Shippou offered his opinion. He had been sitting at Kagome's lap listening to the whole conversation. Everyone looked at the kitsune with strange eyes. "What?"

"Feh!" Inuyasha grunted, "Sesshoumaru is incapable of feeling anything but hatred. And even if he could, the last thing he'd do is fix his eyes on a human."

Myoga murmured to himself, "That might not be so difficult to believe."

"What was that Myoga-jiji?" Kagome couldn't hear him at all but knew he had said something for the way Inuyasha was staring at him.

"It could be said that after a while Sesshoumaru got used to her presence." Myoga spoke up, "Like I said, they used to read in the archives for hours and he didn't seem to be disturbed by her anymore, -that was some time after his mother's death. You see, Nadeshiko-sama asked him not to blame Akiko-chan for not being able to heal her. Sesshoumaru adored his mother so he never said a word about the matter even though he did blame her, so it took him some time after her death to stand Akiko in the same room as him again." He scratched his chin. "When the great lord came back from his usual territory marking, bringing a pregnant human mate with him," He looked up to them giving out more information. "-That was about two months after lady Nadeshiko's death, Sesshoumaru looked for support on Akiko to give it a name. Yet, Akiko-chan's friendship with your mother Inuyasha-sama, drew another line between her and your brother, who I believe she had began to care for. That would explain why she did what she did."

Kagome frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Eh! Why's everyone here?" Totousai asked as he walked into his cave with a slow pace, dropping a brown bag at a side. "What do you want know Inuyasha?"

"What makes you think I need something old geezer?" Inuyasha snapped at him.

"This brat has respect for no one." Totousai complained as he walked through the group. "What is it? Everyone has this face as if you were suffering of constipation!" Everyone face faulted at his comment.

"They came to know about Akiko." Myoga explained, "Remember her? She came here with the great lord soon after Inuyasha-sama's birth." Totousai sat down, frowning as he tried to remember. Myoga sighed, "The one with the green eyes."

"Ah!" Totousai exclaimed as he remembered. "The one with the looks of a porcelain doll and strange but beautiful eyes." He nodded with a grin on his face. "Yes! Yes! I remember her."

Inuyasha frowned finding strange his excitement. "Why the grin old geezer?"

Totousai chuckled, shaking his head. "No reason in particular." He rested his hands on his knees. "So what did you want to know of her? I believe Sesshoumaru killed her long ago because he found her in the arms of Ryoukei."

"What!" Everyone except Myoga, cried out.

"Calm down everyone!" Myoga spoke louder, "He did, but she was only crying on his shoulder for the great lord's death. Sesshoumaru had insulted her since she didn't heal his father either, but this time it was the lord's death wish. When Sesshoumaru finally came out from the lord's quarters, he saw Ryoukei hugging Akiko-chan and blinded by the pain he was feeling at that time, he got into a fight with him which lead to a duel. The outcome was Ryoukei's death and Akiko-chan's would have surely come after as he promised, if she hadn't escaped like I told her to."

"You?" Totousai interrupted, "Wasn't it an order from the Inutaisho? I remember he told her that the day he died she had to comply his last order which was to return to her time no matter what."

Myoga shook his head, "She wasn't going to. She wanted to stay with Sesshoumaru although he had been dead serious about killing her after he came from disposing of the lord's mate and new pup."

Totousai smirked, "If Sesshoumaru knew the truth behind Akiko-chan and the Tenseiga, he would probably hate her more and dispose of her with it."

"Wasn't the Tenseiga, the sword left to him by his father?" Sango asked, not sure of it.

"Yes." Totousai nodded, "But a sword without a blood baptism isn't a sword. The lord's power concealed within that fang combined with the blood of the healer, gave birth to the ability of the Tenseiga of bringing back the dead, but there is an exception." He stayed quiet then.

Inuyasha grew even more impatient and growled, "Are you going to tell us or not?"

"Yes! I was only waiting for you to ask. It is more interesting with some suspense don't you think?" Totousai raised his hands as sign of surrender when Inuyasha almost hit him, but he was grounded by Kagome's magical word. She then asked him to continue. "As I was saying, the exception is Akiko-chan. Despite its special gift, the Tenseiga tasted the girl's blood, so she is the only person who can be killed by that fang."

"This is the reason why she was ordered to go back to her time. The great lord feared that after his death she wouldn't be safe anymore, and after growing to care about her, he didn't want to leave her fate on Sesshoumaru's hands." Myoga explained, "So basically that is all I know about Akiko-chan. I'm very glad that she is still alive, but it worries me that what you say Kagome-chan, about her being with Sesshoumaru now."

Kagome nodded, feeling even more worried now that she knew great deal of Akiko's past. "She seems to have lost her memory and can't remember me. When we saw her she talked about Inuyasha's father as if he was alive, the South clans, and some guy called Rekai."

"Rekai?" Myoga frowned, "He was a human servant who tried to kill Inuyasha-sama and his mother while the lord and Sesshoumaru were fighting the South clan that had invaded the territory. Akiko protected them with some sort of shield she could summon around others and killed Rekai, but was very badly wounded and she couldn't heal herself. That was a pair of months before the lord's death."

Kagome stood up, carrying Shippou in her arms. "Thank you for everything Myoga-jiji, Totousai." She bowed lightly at them. "I understand everything now. We must take Akiko away from Sesshoumaru somehow."

"Don't worry Kagome. We'll save her from that bastard." Inuyasha stood up smiling confidently.

"We still need a plan." Miroku pointed out, and looked at Myoga. "Myoga-jiji, were you really that close to Akiko-san?"

"Oh yes!" Myoga nodded, "Also close to Dante. Well Umade. She named the dog spirit Dante."

'Her mother's name.' Kagome thought. 'She must have felt lonely in this place to name that spirit after her mother, who she dislikes so much. I can't still figure out most of onee-san's way of thinking.'

Inuyasha grinned, and in a quick movement grabbed Myoga, trapping him in his closed fist. "You're coming with us then."

"No! Inuyasha-sama!" Myoga muffled screams could be heard vaguely. "Sesshoumaru will kill me for sure!"

"You should fear me more since I can squash you right now if you don't accept." Inuyasha closed his fist tighter as if to prove he'd keep his word.

"Okay! Okay! But don't kill me!" Myoga cried out.

Inuyasha grinned, "We're ready to go then."

Akiko sat on the dark wood floor, leaning against the border of the paper door, looking out to her garden. "Dante, could you leave me alone please?"

'What for?' Came the reply into her mind.

"I want to think to myself." She said, closing her eyes, tilting her head back.

'You never hide things from me.'

"You speak as if we were the best friends Dante. Must I remind you that you got into my body against my will?" Akiko said, slightly irritated.

Dante floated out of her body in her dog form. 'I keep forgetting that she thinks we've been together only for a year. She distrusts me still.' She turned around and walked out of the room. 'Why the hell she doesn't go back to herself? This is getting annoying.'

Akiko waited for a while, hoping Dante had obeyed and gone farther than outside the door, before opening her eyes. They were welled up with tears, and her lower lip trembled lightly. "I've gone against all you've taught me father." She whispered, "I killed a man, and here I am, keeping a smile on my face so no one can see that it is tearing me apart." She looked down at her hands. "I used your sword to take his life. These hands wielded it. The same hands that are supposed to save people, have stolen the breath of life from someone."

She smiled sadly as her tears dropped on her hands. "And I am the one who criticized the youkais' way of defending their territory, -the one that finds Sesshoumaru-sama's way of disposing of his enemies the most disgusting.. I've become the same kind of monster as them." Akiko brought her knees to her chest and hid her face against the soft silk of her kimono. Her shoulders sagged with each sob.

'_I know it can't be easy to accept Akiko. Taking the life of one of your own kind is never easy the first time. Probably for you it will never be. But think of it this way, by taking one life, you saved two. You saved my son and my mate, and for this I will be always grateful to you child.'_

Akiko brought her head up abruptly, her eyes wide and looking around. 'Where did that come from?' She thought, but then she felt a stinging pain in her head, making her hold her head tightly.

She saw an image of her 16 years old self, sitting on the futon with bandages around her head, and her eyes shut tightly, shaking. That image was followed by one of a strong looking youkai, with soft, golden eyes and long, grayish hair, wearing an armor. He was kneeling next to the futon. The next one showed her breaking into tears and the youkai bringing her into a hug , caressing her head while she cried.

"What is this?" She gritted her teeth, closing her fists on her hair. "It hurts…What are those?"

In her ears the sound of thick metal hitting thinner metal echoed. She opened her eyes, seeing in front of her an old man forging a sword.

"_Sesshoumaru is a full youkai and strong enough to lead the western lands when I am here no more. Yet, I must admit that my first son is cold hearted and won't make a good leader if he doesn't learn to respect others' lives and respect other beings. He must learn that being the strongest and bravest isn't all you need to be a good ruler. You also need compassion and love." The Inutaisho said while looking down at Akiko with tired eyes. "I won't last long Akiko, and before you say to let you heal my old war wounds, I'll refuse your offer."_

"_But my lord, your new born need you as well as your lady. You've said it yourself, Sesshoumaru-sama is cold hearted and has never cared for them. Let me heal the wounds caused by Ryoukutsei so you can live long enough to watch your son grow and help the eldest change." Akiko looked at him with pleading eyes. _

"_If I let you try and your diagnosis is the same as for Nadeshiko, it would be too disappointing after getting my hopes high, and it would be a disappointment for you as well. I don't want you to feel you've failed one more time. I am sorry to know I'll leave my love and my son alone in this world." He sighed, placing his hand on her head just like a father would do to a young son. "Instead, I will ask of you a big favor child. I've been watching you. You care a lot for Sesshoumaru." _

_Akiko blushed and looked away, hiding her face from him with her loose hair. "I don't know what you're speaking about my lord." _

_He chuckled and rubbed her head. "You can't fool these eyes child, but my intention is not to embarrass you." He looked at Totousai banging his hammer on the dull fang which was beginning to thin down. "That one will be my inheritance to him besides the lands, but I don't wish to leave him a sword that will spill more blood than the one he has already without any justification. My request to you my child, is to let that blade taste your blood and absorb the healing gift from it. With luck, the Tenseiga will acquire a harmless edge to those alive. The only problem is that you'll be the only alive being that the sword will be able to kill."_

_Akiko looked at the hot fang. "That is not a problem to me my lord." She stared up to him with determination in her eyes. "I don't fear death…Much less if it comes from Sesshoumaru-sama's hands."_

Akiko gasped for air, tears running down her cheeks. "Why am I seeing this?" She whispered between ragged breaths. "I haven't seen my lord ever since I woke up. Then why am I seeing this strange visions?" She heard the door slide open and she quickly gave her back to the entrance, wiping her tears with the back of her kimono's sleeves.

'Tears?' Sesshoumaru frowned at the first sight of her crying. It had been very few the times he had seen her cry, -when his mother died, when his father had died, and the night he had hunted her down. Tears on her face was something he had never got used to. "Akiko." He said her name as he stepped closer.

"What can I do for you my lord?" Akiko's voice was somewhat uneven, and she kept hiding her face using her hair as a curtain.

Sesshoumaru didn't reply. Instead he crouched in front of her, and took her chin between his clawed thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look up. He stared at her teary face, keeping his poker face, while emotions surged up within him. He couldn't understand what was it that he felt every time he saw her tears. It was a some sort of rage, which always made him react aggressively towards her only making things worse. Tears were always a sign of weakness, or so he thought, and it angered him when she showed weakness. It reminded him of her human nature, -the one thing he hated the most over her guts. 'If only…' He thought while staring at her glassy, emerald orbs.

Akiko had stopped sobbing and shaking soon after he had made her look at him. There were so many emotions running high inside her that she couldn't grasp control of them. She had been feeling lost and overwhelmed until the moment he reached out for her. It was the first time he touched her in a gentle manner. The first time he wasn't arguing or insulting her. For first time since she met him, she felt safe at his side.

He was taken by surprise, but he knew her all too well to expect anything from her. His hand released her chin, only to caress its way to the back of her neck, bringing her closer to him. Their lips were locked in a slow but deep kiss, their minds clearer than ever, as they leaned into this passionate embrace. Soon, he pushed her away gently and took in her face features.

Her cheeks were blushing a bright shade of red, realizing what she had just done out of impulsiveness. She looked down as he stood up. "I-I'm so so sorry Sesshou-" Her words were cut when she felt him pull her gently to her feet.

Sesshoumaru wrapped his arm around her waist, pressing her tightly against him, enjoying the feather like touch of her fingers on his chest. 'It has been long…' He thought as he buried his face against her neck, inhaling the sweet scent of her skin and her hair's perfume. 'Too long Akiko.'

He looked up, bringing his hand to her face, laying it against her cheek. Staring into her eyes, he could see that her feelings were the same as his. He had kept himself away all these days, avoiding this moment, but somehow he'd always find her in his way. "Where is Dante?" The youkai lord asked with a coarse voice.

"Away." Akiko whispered, overwhelmed by the warmth of his body and the heat of the moment.

He grunted lowly, in a non-aggressive way, approving of the inuyoukai spirit's absence. He wanted no spectators or witnesses this time. Pushing her into the room, he licked her lips before kissing her passionately. She had taken the first step, but he was determined to be the one to take the lead. Holding her by the waist, he pushed her down at the futon to lay her on her back. Bringing his hand out from under her, he leaned his weight on his arm to keep from crushing her as he departed from her lips only to nibble his way down to her neck 'This time…' He thought as he nibbled and licked her neck making her gasp and moan softly at his ear. 'I won't let you go.'

To my readers: Thank you for reading and following this story. If you're expecting a NC-17 from me, sit down and wait. I read them, can't write them! _ I leave such tasks to masters like Kuroneko-sama who can make a lemon with plot in it, not to mention making a lemon in each chapter and still keeping a plot.

If you have any comments, please review the chapter. I'd like to know what my readers think of it so far whether they're constructive or destructive comments.

_Shihori. _


	8. Chapter Seven Play Pause Play

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, its story or characters. I've just borrowed them to create this fanfic. Akiko is my original character. Don't try to sue me cause I possess nothing but my annoying, creative mind.

Haven

By Shihori

Chapter Seven: / II / (Play, pause, play)

Inuyasha stepped out from the darkness of the shadowed woods, staring at Kagome's back as she combed her wet hair. "The others were worried because you were taking long so I came to see if you were ok"

Kagome looked at him accusingly. "Isn't that a cover?"

"A cover?" Inuyasha looked at her lost.

Kagome stood up crossing her arms over her chest, looking angry. "A cover speech for watching me bathe. You come out saying that only to cover up your pervert habits!"

Inuyasha's cheek tinted a shade of red and snapped at her, "I didn't watch you! Who'd want to do so anyways!" He turned to his side, crossing his arms over his chest looking insulted.

Kagome began giggling and then laughed. "I'm sorry!" She exclaimed and grabbed him by the sleeve. "I was only kidding."

"You're feeling better I see." He grunted, eyeing her from the tail of his eye. "Let's go back."

"Wait." Kagome pulled at his sleeve, stopping him on his tracks. "We should give Sango and Miroku some quality time alone."

"What for?" Inuyasha muttered, a frown on his brow.

"They haven't been alone since that time when the lord asked Sango to marry him." Kagome released him and went back to sit at the boulder next to the natural pond formed by the small waterfall.

"So?" He muttered as he went to stand next to her, keeping his hands inside his sleeves.

"You're so dense. It is obvious there are sparks between them. They need space to let love flow." Kagome smiled while staring at the thin waning moon's reflection on the water. "We've been so busy lately. First the fire cats' attack, then the youkai ghost at the lord's manor, and soon after Akiko's arrival. It has been so hectic the last three weeks." She heard Inuyasha grunt as an agreement to her words. "I'll need a long rest after Akiko is back in our time and safe from Sesshoumaru."

"Hmph! That bastard." Inuyasha grunted, "Who knows what he is planning this time. Probably asked for the Tetsusaiga in exchange for Akiko's life."

Kagome half smiled at this, "I don't think that is the case this time Inuyasha."

He frowned, looking down at her. "What do you mean?"

"I think probably Shippou was right about him loving her." She pushed a lock behind her ear.

Inuyasha laughed and sat down on the rock ledge. "That prick in love with a human? I highly doubt it, but if it was the case, it would be hilarious!"

"It seems it already is to you." Kagome smiled while watching him laugh. It was rare to see him laugh so naturally. She was used to watch him do all sorts of angry or mocking looks, but rarely got to see him smile, much less laugh. "Is it that difficult to consider? A youkai in love with a human. You're product of that kind of relationship."

Inuyasha shook his head, "It is not. The difficult part is imagining Sesshoumaru in love with one." He smirked, "Heck! I've never heard of him being interested in any youkai female. Not that I paid any attention to what I've heard of him at all."

"I guess it is hard to think of him as someone who can love, but I guess that feeling is born in us and it isn't born with us." Kagome muttered, rubbing her arms to warm up. Inuyasha noticed this and took off his fire rat coat and handed it to her, looking away. She smiled and took it, laying it over her shoulders. "Thank you."

They sat in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's presence, until he asked, "What if Akiko hasn't recovered her memory? Knowing Sesshoumaru, he won't let go of one of his toys that easily."

"Don't call her that. It's creepy." She shuddered, bringing her knees to her chest. "I wonder if Akiko is in love with him. Just like you can't imagine Sesshoumaru in love with someone, I can't imagine Akiko." She smirked, "I still remember all the chocolates and presents she threw away in White Day."

He asked, looking at her. "White day?"

"It is the day boys give presents to girls. It is after Valentine's day which is when girls give chocolates to the boys they like." Kagome explained, smiling at Inuyasha who only 'Ahh'-ed as a reply. "When she finished high school and got into the designer courses in college she met Zan, who is co-owner of the shop." She sighed, with a dreamy look in her eyes. "He's the most handsome man I've ever seen, not to mention nice and funny, and straight for what I've heard from Akiko."

"Feh!" Inuyasha grunted, facing away, feeling slightly jealous at someone he didn't now but for the way she looked while describing him, that Zan was obviously the type of men she liked.

Kagome giggled softly at his reaction and continued speaking. "He's been in love with her ever since he met her I think, but she rejected him from day one and said that the only relationship they could have was as friends. Akiko has always avoided any relationships, friendships included, so I guess she does care for Zan." She sighed going back to dreamy mode. "But wouldn't it be nice if Sesshoumaru did love her? Probably she could change him. It would be like a fairy tale."

Inuyasha smirked, "Keep on dreaming."

"Why not?" She exclaimed, "Akiko is beautiful, intelligent, and-"

"Human." Inuyasha pointed out in a bored tone. "Don't forget that detail. He must keep her as a prisoner on behalf of his sole entertainment. Just like he kills any weaker being to get rid of his boredom."

Kagome sighed unhappily this time. "One can hope right?" She mumbled as she hid her face against her knees. "If he's in love with her that means she will be safe cause you don't kill the one you love. Probably if she can sort it out, she'll stay with him and smile just like she did that day. It will be perfect at the end like a fairy tale."

Inuyasha panicked, noticing the sudden downfall of her mood. "Kagome I-" He muttered, standing up and looking worriedly at her.

Before he could touch her, Kagome sprung up, "Inuyasha, you idiot!" She yelled, jumping off the boulder, but she landed on a slipper side making her lose her balance.

It all happened in a matter of a second. Inuyasha reached out to grab her before she fell but he stepped on a slippery spot as well, and both went down falling into the water with a loud splash.

"Kagome?" He asked softly, staring at her who kept her face hidden on the long sleeves covering her hands. They were kneeling on the shallower side of the pond, both wet from head to feet. The half youkai panicked when he heard a soft sob come from her. "Kagome are you hurt?" He asked, reaching out to take her hands away from her face, but just then she leaned on him, taking him by surprise, and began crying on his chest with her arms wrapped around his torso.

"Inuyasha no baka!" Kagome wailed at his chest. She had been trying to feel better, but when she began thinking about Akiko and Sesshoumaru in love, her own feelings, fears and hopes began stirring inside her. Inuyasha's dense attitude didn't help much either. She knew that even if Inuyasha got to feel the same as her, something would separate them eventually, -her having to go back to her time was probably the biggest obstacle. Even though she hoped for a fairy tale ending, she knew those only happened in books and TV.

Inuyasha felt awkward, not knowing what he had done this time to make her cry, but he knew it was his fault. It was always his fault somehow. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders gently, letting her cry and babble her undecipherable complains. "One can hope, can't I?" He heard her mutter, and then cry louder. The dog youkai couldn't understand at all what she meant, but seeing her like this only made his heart wretch. The most he could do at the moment was hold her tightly.

Dante sat at the end of the dark corridor, her arms crossed over her chest and her angered, blood eyes fixed on a certain dented spot of the wall. Her greatest fear from the moment they met Sesshoumaru at the battlefield, had come true. "That stupid little prick!" She growled, her eyes turning into evil looking slits as she recalled the events from earlier that afternoon.

_Dante came back from her short forced walk, "She must be bringing herself down with something and I can't allow that." She muttered to herself and trespassed the paper door only to be welcomed by the only sight she had wanted to avoid, -Akiko leaning over to Sesshoumaru and kissing him._

_Herr eyes went wide in disbelief, and her mouth opened wide in a soundless scream as she grabbed her head. __'Idiot! Idiot! __Idiot!' __She yelled in her mind, feeling even worse them moment Sesshoumaru hugged her closer. _

_The dog spirit floated out of the room again, and the corner of her eye caught a small object moving towards her. It was Jaken. _

_The toad youkai ignored her and opened his mouth. "Ses-"_

_Dante kicked the ugly toad with all her might, and floated rapidly towards the wall where the youkai had formed a dent and then landed on the floor. "Baka! Baka! Baka!" She yelled as she stomped on the half dead looking creature. "You and that bastard pup you call master are idiots!"_

_Jaken rolled to a side before being stomped again and brought his staff of heads forward looking pissed. "You insolent creature! How dare you insult Sesshoumaru-sama!" _

_Dante gave him a bored look, and grabbed the staff of heads as easily as taking a candy away from a child. Using it as a golf club, she hit him, sending him in a flight down the corridor. She stared at him until he disappeared and then threw the staff the way its' owner had gone. With a half grunt- half sigh, she sat on the floor and stared at the dent on the wall._

"I hoped he'd push her away!" Dante growled lowly, "Even killing her would have been convenient in such case, but no! The pampered, fucking little brat had to respond to her kiss!" She began to move her right, crossed leg. "If she was in her complete senses, that would have never happened!" -_She'd be dead by now though. _ "She would have never let him touch her again after using her the way he did." She grunted, "Argh! Males are such bastards! He had just stepped into her room in the middle of the night, ordered her to keep me under control, and taken her like if she was just any bitch!"

Dante scratched her head, closing her eyes at the memories. "It was so disgusting. He should have at least sent me away!" -_Which I wouldn't have obeyed. _With a sigh, she seemed to calm down. "At least he didn't mark her." Then again got angry. "But why would he mark her if he considered her only a weakling, stupid human who had the annoying habit to stand up against him!" She shuddered, "Good thing he didn't mark her and for sure he won't this time because he's a brainless male who is only looking for a fuck and nothing more." _-I am the one to know after encountering so many like him. _

For first time she noticed the darkness of the corridors. "It's already nighttime?" She whispered to herself, looking around. Then she scowled looking back at the room, "Hasn't it been too long already?" She spoke her thoughts out loud. Then she heard light steps coming her way.

"This time, I won't let you win you bitch!" Jaken announced with his ragged voice holding the staff, -several X strips on his head.

Dante arched her left eyebrow, giving him a 'Yeah right!' look, but then an idea came up to her head. She stood up, "You wanted to speak with Sesshoumaru right?"

"Ah-yes…" Jaken muttered, suddenly confused at her calm stance. "And be more respectful of him! He's not your equal!"

"Whatever." She hissed, and floated closer to him. "Well, I'll have to tell you that your master won't appreciate being interrupted at the moment, or so I guess."

"Huh?" Jaken blinked, "Why would that be?"

"But I will help you come out safely of this." Dante smiled at him.

"HUH? Safely of what?" Jaken stammered, stepping back.

Dante only grinned as she neared the panicking toad youkai.

Sesshoumaru sat in the middle of the futon with Akiko on his lap. Their skins were tinted in a yellowish tone due to the pair of lit candles at a corner. His clawed hand traveled up and down in a lazy manner on her spine while he nibbled on her left shoulder. Akiko's face had a serene and blissful look on it. Her own hands caressed his back, and she giggled softly against his silky hair each time his claws reached the small of her back where she was ticklish.

Their romantic petting moment was interrupted the moment Jaken barged into the room, looking furious. "I can't believe this!" He croaked angrily.

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in anger, while Akiko's in horror, blushing ten different shades of red. "Jaken!" The dog youkai snarled, raising his arm, ready to kill the toad with his Dokasu.

"Go ahead you freaking bastard!" Jaken yelled, "You rapist!"

Akiko's surprise turned into anger, but she forced Sesshoumaru's arm down, earning her a death glare. "Dante! Come out of his body immediately!"

Dante floated out of Jaken's body which dropped to a side with blank eyes. She was glaring at Sesshoumaru who did the same. In a fit of rage, she kicked Jaken out again sending him in a flight through the room across the hallway's door. "You filthy dog! How dare you do this to her! You're taking advantage of her-"

"Shut up Dante!" Akiko yelled, obviously upset at the interruption. "How dare you!"

"Get out of here you bitch!" Sesshoumaru growled, wishing Dante had remained in Jaken's body to at least choke her to death.

Dante sneered at him, "I don't take orders from you you-"

"Enough! Out! Now!" Akiko yelled at her, reaching out for her kimono, and slipping her arms into it quickly before moving off Sesshoumaru.

Dante obliged, and floated out, followed by Akiko who slid the door closed behind her. Sesshoumaru glared at the door, and then moved off the futon, getting dressed.

"What in the world are you thinking Dante?" He heard Akiko yell. "Who do you think you are to barge into my room that way? You have no right-"

"I'm like a mother you brat so I'm in all my right to-" Dante began, yelling as well.

"Mother?" Akiko shrieked, "You're no more than a damn parasite! An annoying, disrespectful, vulgar, and nosy parasite! I already have a mother and I don't need anyone to come and try to take her place!"

Dante knew she had messed up big time by saying that. For a moment she forgot this Akiko had the mind of the 16 years old one and at that time she was still a stranger to her. "Fine!" She grunted, "But don't you see he's only using you!" Right then Sesshoumaru stepped out of the room, beginning a battle of glares since neither of them could harm the other. "To him you're only a toy! One more possession to his collection! He'll use you till he gets tired of you and then ki-"

"Shut up!" Akiko yelled, her face red with anger and her eyes glowing with hatred.

"I won't! I'll keep on till you come back to yourself!" Dante cried out, and floated closer to her, only making her step back. "Why don't you snap out of it for once and for all Akiko! You'll regret this-" She was cut off by Akiko's scream, and she began screaming as well.

Akiko ended the screaming fight, turning around giving a glare at Sesshoumaru, meaning not to get close, and slid the door to her room close once inside.

"You are really stupid bitch." Sesshoumaru murmured, stepping closer to Dante who would have killed him right there and then or at least give it a shot. "You are the one hurting her with all this."

"Oh!" Dante snarled at him, "And suddenly you are the most preoccupied for her sanity right?" She kept her voice low just like him, to keep Akiko from listening. "The first time you screwed up big time and she still adored you even though she could feel you were only using her. If she hadn't lost her recent memories, you wouldn't have been close at all to getting a fuck!"

Sesshoumaru looked at her bored at her complaints. "Whatever I do with her is none of your business bitch. You should have learned by now to stay away from this matter."

"This is my business too!" Dante growled, "Because it is me who'll end up watching her cry every damn night! It is me who'll have to stand her cold stance every single day! It is me who will stand with her the loneliness she caged up herself in after what you did to her! The moment she stepped out of that well on the other side she changed forever! Until the night you beat her up she had showed no signs at all of her old self! And now you come and take her like a piece of your collection, use her and later discard her! When Akiko recovers herself, Sesshoumaru, she'll hate you more than what she loves you right now. That you can carve it in stone!"

To Sesshoumaru, all those words meant nothing. "Aren't you being too dramatic bitch?" He smirked, "This time things will be different. She'll never leave this place, and as long as she wants you around, so won't you." He turned around, placing his hand on the door. "But no one is begging you to stay Dante."

"You won't get rid of me that easily bastard." Dante growled at his cool, sure of himself stance. She sighed, as he slid the door close behind him. "This is so fucked up."

"I'll have to beg you my lord to leave me alone for now." Akiko's voice still carried an angry tone. "I wish to be alone with my thoughts."

Sesshoumaru stood in the middle of the room staring at her back while she stood at the garden's door looking out. He had seen her argue with Dante before, but never this bad. 'Must be part of her personality. The one she developed after leaving.' He could only guess after listening to Dante's words. 'Little miss perfection, is no longer perfect.' He smirked, 'Her mask has fallen down, and she has become more raw, more human.' For some strange reason, he found this amusing and attractive on her. He could hear her fast heartbeats due to the anger she was still keeping inside.

"She's right isn't she?" She asked, not looking back at him, her voice somewhat ragged. "I'm only a toy to you…one more possession to add to your collection." She began shaking, and wrapped her arms around her. "You'll use me until you get tired of me and then dispose of me like an old rag. I am a human after all! The kind you hate the most! Why would I ever dream of you ever feeling anything for me? Or at least respecting me for what I'm worth! But of course, I have no worth at all at your eyes. I'm only a toy!"

Sesshoumaru scowled, stepping closer to her. "You're giving that bitch's words too many thoughts."

"That bitch as you called her, saved my life when fighting with Rekai!" She snapped at him. "If she wanted the worse for me, she would have let me die then."

"She saved herself." Sesshoumaru pointed out, grabbing her arm gently to turn her around, but she pulled away, looking angry and holding tears back. Applying more force on his hold, he pulled her to him, and quickly wrapped his arm around her waist tightly to keep her from escaping. "You're thinking too highly of that bitch."

"Argh!" Akiko pounded her fist against his chest, groaning with annoyance. She couldn't understand why she was so furious at him if it had been Dante who had ruined the whole moment. -_'I had been wanting this for so long and now I'm trying to escape his embrace. Why?' _ She glared up at him, stopping the futile intents of escaping his grip. "That bitch is me and I am her! Might as well accept it!" She widened her eyes as those words ringed with familiarity in her mind.

_Akiko dressed in uniform, sat under a blossomed plum tree. She looked up with a serene countenance. Dante, looking just like her but with red eyes, sat on branch looking down at her. "After all, you are me and I am you. We might as well be friends." Dante smiled down at her, but Akiko looked away. "Good."_

Sesshoumaru noticed the way her eyes seemed to space out for a moment before she grabbed her head, looking down at his chest. He released her only to bring her face up to his. Her confused look vanished to be replaced by a displeased one. "I, Sesshoumaru, will prove your thoughts wrong." He said with a smooth, strong tone, and determination in his eyes.

Akiko scowled, "What do you me-" Before she could finish her question he leaned over and kissed her. Her hands pushed her back, but his own grabbed her by the neck firmly. Her hands closed into fists grabbing the soft silk of his robes, a single tear rolling down her cheek as she closed her eyes and gave in to the kiss.

Sesshoumaru felt the wet drop on his cheek and ignored it. He decided not to wonder why she was crying now, since she seemed to have given in. Feeling her hands travel up his chest to rest on his neck, he leaned over, lowering his arm under her buttocks and picked her up. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as her legs did around his waist.

He stepped out of the room and into the garden, not needing to open his eyes to know where he was going. Kneeling on the grass bed close to the goldfish pond, he laid her on her back, not leaving her mouth for one second.

Akiko's hands slid down from his neck and into his kimono, letting her senses and feelings be the ones to lead her. 'Don't think!' She ordered to herself, 'Just feel and let him feel how much you love him.' She felt him pull back from her lips and she half opened her eyes. She felt tears well up when she stared into his golden orbs that expressed a mix of feelings she couldn't recognize.

He took in the sight of her face being lit only by the soft moonlight. While staring at her confused emerald orbs, everything seemed to click in. Things he hadn't understood before were starting to make sense. 'She'll never leave my side.' He thought possessively, 'I'll make sure of that tonight.'

Akiko hugged his body to hers as he kissed her again, exploring her mouth ardently. 'I know I'm only a toy to you.' She thought as his hand unwrapped the kimono from her body and caressed her skin leaving making it tingly. His lips parted from her only to travel down her chin to her collarbone, making her sigh. Staring at the moon with half closed eyes, she finished her unspoken request, 'But just for tonight, make me feel I am special to you. That is all I'll ever ask from you, my love.' She closed her eyes, sighing as a smile spread over her lips, making aside her worries and giving in to the moment.

Notes: Once again, not writing a lemon. Just throwing in a few drops of citrus into the salad.


	9. Chapter Eight Together

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, its story or characters. I've just borrowed them to create this fanfic. Akiko is my original character. Don't try to sue me cause I possess nothing but my annoying, creative mind.

Haven

By Shihori

Chapter Eight: Together

Sesshoumaru opened his eyes after catching the sound of light footsteps stopping at the door. He could feel the individual's nervousness and hesitation to call out his name. He looked down at Akiko who lays asleep on him. Carefully, he rolled to his side, making her roll down to the futon. He heard her sigh and frown before rolling on her stomach, still deeply asleep.

The inuyoukai lord stared down at her small frame, his eyes set on her left shoulder. Her markings had disappeared which he couldn't understand. A grin twitched on his lips as his eyes traveled down her back lying over three fresh claw marks, smaller than the ones she had before, on the small of her back. 'I can't be mistaken..' He thought, caressing lightly the shallow open wounds which made her groan a little. He smirked, and stood up from the futon, covering her with the quilt before getting dressed. 'It is only a matter of time for us to become linked.'

Walking to the door, he slid it open startling the toad youkai. He closed the door behind him and then asked, "Is it them again?"

"Yes my lord. Those annoying wolves have come back." Jaken said as he followed his master down the corridors.

"Tell Rin to take care of Akiko. Leave the bath ready for her." He ordered as he walked into his own room. "We'll be leaving in a while, and be back by nightfall."

"Yes Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken turned around and hurried down the way they had come.

Sesshoumaru changed into clean clothes before putting on his armor and grabbing the Tenseiga and Toukijin from the sword rack.

"That's the Tenseiga isn't it?" Dante had stepped in without previous notice like always.

"What are you doing here?" Sesshoumaru grunted, displeased with her presence in his room.

Dante's eyes left the sword at his waist and looked up at him. She seemed quite calm, rarely on her. "She has never been with anyone else, but you." She began, "Although she hated you for distrusting her, she continued to love you and couldn't think of being with another male." A smirk crossed over her lips. "But of course, you didn't distrust her, right?" Sesshoumaru's stare hardened. "You were only looking for a good reason to dispose of her, and betrayal was the best. The moment you saw her in Rekai's arm, weeping in the garden for your father's death, you went into a fit of rage because your best sparing contender was touching your newest toy. The same toy that had just refused to set her hands on your father's body and heal him."

"Is this goinganywhere?" He muttered with disinterest. "You are too attached to the past Umade."

"Am I?" Dante crossed her arms over her chest. "Probably it is because Akiko never let go from it when she was back in her time." She smiled, "You see, there is someone back there who is dieing only for one opportunity to make her happy. Do you think you can offer her that? Take her away from her reality, keep her here until she dies of age away from her family, use her only for your entertainment and never give her the place she deserves, -you really think she deserves to pay for something she never did to you? She'd prefer death over a life like that. The moment she recovers her memory, you won't be safe sleeping in the same bed as her."

"I can't care any less of what you think." He grunted as he walked past her, leaving the room. He walked back to Akiko's room only to find her at the door wearing a white silk under robe, calling out for Dante.

"Why are you up?" He asked, coming to her side.

"Ah." She blinked, looking at him. "I felt you leave and didn't want to be alone so…"

She stopped when he reached out to hold her face on his hand, rubbing his thumb on her cheekbone. "Sesshoumaru-sama?"

He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "I'll be back by nightfall. Wait for me in my quarters."

"Ah- yes." She smiled, blushing lightly, and grabbed his forearm. "Where are you leaving to though?"

"North-west. A wolf pack has been trying to settle in my territory for some time. No matter how many times I kill them, another pack comes back." He said in a bored tone.

"Then shouldn't you kill the main pack then?" She asked offering a faster way out.

Sesshoumaru began walking, and she held on to his arm. He found it somewhat annoying but he knew that if he pushed her away he wouldn't hear the end of it. It surprised him when she entwined her hand in his. He tried to focus on her question. "They are too far and I have no time to deal with them right now."

"Isn't it dangerous though?" She noticed he walked slower so she could keep on with his pace, which made her smile. " You go and kill another of their packs, what if the leader decides to come and fight you?"

"He dies." He said in a matter of fact tone.

"But remember Rin and I are here. She's only a child, and I well…" She muttered, "I'm hardly a worthy opponent to a human, much less to a youkai even of the lowest level. Can't you stay here and take care of us and leave that to your father? After all he is the inutaishou." He didn't reply making her sigh. "What am I saying?" She released his hand and stepped farther from his side, muttering. "There is no reason for the young lord of the western lands to worry about two pitiful humans."

Sesshoumaru stopped on his tracks at the entrance of the palace and looked at her seriously, but before he could say anything, an energetic Rin ran to him. "Good morning Sesshoumaru-sama! Good morning Akiko-oneesan!" She seemed to have killer ants on her feet cause she wouldn't stop hoping from side to side. "Jaken-san says you're leaving! Why can't Rin go with you Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"You must stay with Akiko." He said simply, knowing the kid wouldn't go against one of his orders.

Jaken arrived with Ah-un right them and bowed his head lightly. "Everything is ready Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru looked at Akiko who had turned away. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing against his chest and said in a low tone for only her to listen. "You'll be safe within the barrier, so don't worry for no reason. I'll be back in two days."

Akiko looked up surprised, knowing that the change of his plans were because of what she had just said. A smile spread on her lips and nodded. "I'll be waiting here for you my lord."

He let go of her, and walked towards Ah-un. "Jaken." Sitting on the beast's saddle with Jaken sitting behind him, he gave the order to the horse like beast to head North-west.

Akiko stared up after them while Rin waved good bye at them and wishing good luck to her master. She placed her hand on Rin's and smiled down at the brown-eyed kid. "Shall we take a bath before having breakfast?"

"Yes Akiko-oneesan!" Rin chirped and ran into the palace.

Akiko looked to where Sesshoumaru had disappeared, sadness showing in her eyes. A little later, she walked into the palace to meet with Rin.

Soon they were in the wood tub filled with steaming water that Jaken had prepared before leaving. It was big enough to allow Rin to swim around. Akiko watched her amused at her liveliness. "So, tell me Rin-chan," She spoke up making the girl stop swimming around to pay attention to her. "How did Sesshoumaru-sama save you?"

Rin blinked, "Jaken-san told me I couldn't tell you."

Akiko gasped, pretending to be hurt. "Why not?"

"Because it wouldn't make Sesshoumaru-sama happy." She said innocently, "And I want him to always be happy." She thought a little about her words. "Although he doesn't smile, I think he must be happy to have you here. He spent two whole days watching you sleep when we arrived."

"I see." Akiko smiled at this. "But Rin, there should be no secrets between us. After all I'm your oneesan, so you shouldn't keep anything from me. All I want to know is how you and he met. I find it quite interesting the fact that he saved you."

Rin thought for a moment, and them smiled, "Okay but don't tell Jaken-san I told you!"

Akiko made a cross over her heart. "I promise I won't."

"Well, Jaken-san says that Sesshoumaru-sama had just lost a battle with his half brother, Inuyasha when I found him in the woods. I thought he was hurt, so I took some food to him because mom always said that food made you stronger." Rin's face was bright with happiness as she told her story. "But then some wolves attacked the village where I lived, and I was hurt. Jaken-san says I was dead and that Sesshoumaru-sama took pity on me, so he brought me back with his sword…"

"Tenseiga." Akiko muttered, and smiled at the girl's effusive nod. "I never thought he would do that for a human."

"Sesshoumaru-sama is very good and pretty!" Rin chirped, "Although he never smiles and never accepts the flowers I gather for him, he is very good. I know it!"

"Handsome." Akiko muttered, correcting her. "To men you describe them as handsome, women are pretty."

Rin blinked her eyes and smiled, and repeated. "Handsome. He is handsome."

Akiko nodded and then stood up. "We better get out of the water or we'll end up like prunes."

"Prunes?" Rin asked, not knowing that word.

"It is a wrinkled dry fruit." Akiko said as she stepped out of the tub and helped her out. She toweled the girl's hair, which made Rin giggle a lot. They both got dressed and headed back inside. Akiko then cooked a quick meal with the little she found, and they had breakfast. After a while of chatting, combing each other's hair, and playing in the garden, Akiko told the kid to stay in the garden and to behave while she went to read. Of course the girl would obey her.

Akiko walked down the corridors, calling out for the inuyoukai spirit. "Dante, will you come out already please?" No answer nor sign of her. She sighed and used a commanding tone. "Old hag get your lazy ass out here already!"

"What did you just call me?" Dante asked, floating out from one of the nearby rooms. She didn't look insulted at all, but curious. She stood in front of Akiko.

"Did you really have the necessity of making me call you in such vulgar way?" Akiko said with smooth voice. "Come. We must talk." She turned around and walked a few more meters before stopping at a door. She opened it and they stepped into the archives room.

"It is strange that Myoga-jiji hasn't jumped to your neck and began feeding of you." Dante muttered, looking around the place filled with scrolls. She saw Akiko sit down on the round window's frame. "He always did that when you entered this place."

"Sesshoumaru would never keep the tick with him. It annoyed him too much." She looked outside where a creek ran, framed by willow trees.

"Sesshoumaru?" Dante smirked, "The snob pup allowed you to take off the title from his name only for a night fuck?"

"Ara ara…Why you must call it that way?" Akiko mumbled, turning her face to Dante and a wicked grin on her lips. "Maybe because you didn't get your share this time because I made you leave?"

Dante's eyes widened, and then glared at her. "Since when?"

The grin vanished from Akiko's face as a serious countenance took over. "Your words made something stir in me and when he came back inside I couldn't keep from feeling enraged and resentful towards him. Then everything came back to me, as he held me and kissed me."

"You don't seem happy to be back." Dante pointed out as she sat on the windowsill in front of her, her legs mixing into Akiko's. "Is it because you found yourself in his arms, or because now you won't be able to be in them anymore?"

Akiko's green eyes expressed great sorrow, but not a single tear would form in them. "The fairy tale is over."

Dante's face was serious as well as she stared at her in worry. "So what is the step to follow Akiko? Will you stay or-"

"We leave of course." Akiko muttered, wrapping her arms around herself. "One night is all I needed to be happy again. And one day is all I need to shatter it into pieces."

"I hate to be the one to say this, but you don't have to go back if you don't want you. You can make your pride aside and stay with the stupid pup who you happen to love, -always have." Dante couldn't care less for Sesshoumaru's reaction, but did care for Akiko's future. She had to admit that she missed the happy Akiko, the one whose eyes spoke for themselves showing her love for life. If there was a way for her to be happy without the youkai, she'd definitely encourage her to go after it, but she knew to perfection that Akiko would never be happy, with or without him.

"The same I happen to hate." She muttered, closing her eyes sighing. "I thought he'd leave sometime during the night or just roll over and ignore me." She could feel Dante's expectant gaze on her. "I can say without fear of exaggerating, that he was the perfect lover."

"Okay…" Dante scratched her head, "Now explain me why he'd do that?"

Akiko opened her eyes but continued to stare at the willow trees dance with the wind. "I asked myself the same while laying on his chest until I fell asleep. For first time, I felt loved by him although I know he can't feel that for a human, much less for me."

"Well Zan will always be there." Dante offered a second prize.

Akiko smirked, "You need another body Dante before you can put your claws on Zan."

Dante sighed, "One can hope right?"

"Ah….one can hope." Akiko muttered, then faced the spirit. Her face features were tight, and her eyes were covered by a veil of determination and coldness. "Go to the forest and bring me some of those leaves from the sleep bush."

"What for?" Dante frowned, "All we have to do is put your feet on the floor and head east to the well."

"To put the kid to sleep." Akiko stood up and walked to the table where Sesshoumaru had left some scrolls open. "I don't want her wandering around and probably getting into trouble before Sesshoumaru comes back."

"What do you think will be of that child?" Dante watched her seat on his cushion, running her fingers on the table's edge.

"If you're asking if she'll have the same destiny as me, I feel it will go better for her. Probably she'll grow in his heart and become the lady of the western lands when she comes to age." Akiko's voice showed no sign of sadness at this thought.

"And you think you can live with that thought in mind?" Dante asked, taking the job of her conscience seriously. "Can you be happy knowing that someone else will have the happiness you always wished for?"

"I have the happiness I've wished for already Dante." Akiko noticed her rosary peeking out from under a scroll at a corner and reached out for it. "All I wish is that that child can do what I wasn't able to do, take down his shields. Probably then he'll become the true lord of these lands just like his father wanted."

"I'll be back soon. Be ready." Dante muttered as she floated out the window, knowing Akiko needed to be alone.

Akiko put on the rosary and walked to the door. She looked back, seeing an image of her younger self, leaning on the table and asking an annoyed looking Sesshoumaru about something in a scroll. She slid the door closed, shutting away her old memories, then she went back to her chamber which wasn't too far from the archives.

Back in her room, she stared at the futon. She had her mind set and knew there was no going back. There was no going back for their relationship at all. She went to the garden and picked several white flowers, making two bouquets with them, avoiding the pond's area. Placing them on the dresser table, she grabbed the brush and moved it slowly through her long tresses which she tied with a white ribbon that matched her white kimono with blue and red drop-like patterns at the sleeves and hem.

Then she stood up, taking the bouquets in her arms, she left the room and walked to the main chambers. She left them at the door of the room that used to be the chamber which Sesshoumaru's mother and father used to share. "Thank you for all you did for me, my lord, my lady. I'm sorry I wasn't able to do more for you. I'll always carry you in my heart, and consider you my family just like you once did with me." Bowing in front of it, she muttered, "I'll be leaving now. I hope to meet you again someday."

Dante came to her, with a few leaves in her hand. "It is past noon. If we hurry, we'll be by the well after nightfall."

Akiko nodded, taking the leaves from her. "Go inside, you need to rest." Dante only nodded, thankful for her order and floated into her body. "I might need you later if anything goes wrong."

Rin sat at the garden singing a song about her master, while making another crown of flowers. Akiko smiled, thinking it was cute. "Another crown for Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Yes!" Rin nodded and smiled brightly. "Want to help?"

"Bring the flowers with you. I'll help you while we have some tea. The day is a little chilly and it will be good for our bodies." Akiko walked back to the palace followed by the girl who continued to hum the song.

They went into the tea room, where Akiko had everything set up. They sat down and she gave a cup to Rin, which she drank from immediately, while Akiko only pressed her lips to the cup. Then she set down her cup at an angle in which Rin couldn't see that it was still full, and braided the flowers' stems. Soon Rin was yawning, and laid her head on the table, falling asleep. Akiko brought the quilt she had hid at the other room, and laid back the child, pulling the quilt on her. Finally she took her unfinished crown and finished it for her. With a kiss on the girls forehead, she said good bye and walked out of the room, sliding the door closed so no cold air would go inside.

Akiko took a last look to the palace's entrance, quietly saying good bye to all the good and bad moments she lived there, and all the nice and not so nice beings that once lived in it, and the ones that still inhabit it. But above all, she bid good bye to her old self. Turning around, she walked through the gates and headed towards the barrier.

Inuyasha had arrived to the palace's kekkai and were waiting some meters away from it.

"Strange that the bastard hasn't come out." Inuyasha muttered, wondering why Sesshoumaru hadn't showed himself by now.

"Probably he isn't home." Miroku suggested.

"If so, maybe Akiko isn't there either." Kagome muttered, sighing. "Don't tell me we'll have to go look for them."

Sango said, "With tonight's new moon, it might not be the most convenient thing to do."

"Feh!" Inuyasha grunted, bringing out the Tetsusaiga. "We'll find out first if they're in there or not!" He swung the sword over his head. "Kaze no ki-"

"Stop!" Akiko's voice came from inside the barrier, then she went through it. "If you hit the barrier he'll feel it."

"Akiko?" Kagome asked, looking over Inuyasha's shoulder. "Why are you here?"

"I'm on my way to catch flight 202 headed to Paris." Akiko said sarcastically, "What do you think I'm doing?"

Kagome's face lit up with happiness and ran to the woman. "Thanks God you're back!" She hugged her and muttered between tears. "That smiling side of you was scary!"

Akiko smirked, rubbing Kagome's head. "I'm glad to see you too."

"But why are you here?" Kagome then rephrased her question. "How could you get here that easily?"

"He left this morning to the North-west to eliminate some wolf pack." She said in a 'I can't care less' tone. "It should give me enough time to reach the well even if he notices the small fluctuation I caused by going through the barrier."

Inuyasha walked closer to her, looking at her with inquisitive eyes. Then he asked, "Is it true you're that idiot's woman?"

Kagome glared at him for his lack of tactfulness. "Osuwari!" She yelled and he went crashing down to the ground in front of them.

Akiko blinked, and crouched in front of Inuyasha who was mumbling not so good words to the ground. "Hmm…Interesting little word." She muttered, and then grinned reaching out for Inuyasha's dog ears and rubbing them.

Inuyasha freaked and jumped back, crouching and blushing madly. "Now what do you think you're doing wench?"

"I see that still makes you jumpy." Akiko said grinning at him, and then said, "Osuwari." She walked by Inuyasha who had his face buried in the ground, and everyone was looking at him surprised. "And don't call me wench, little brat. I spent many nights awake taking care of you, so be more respectful." She noticed the kodachi at his waist and grabbed it. "Thank you for taking care of this."

Kagome ran up to Akiko. "How did you do that? Kaede-sama did the rosary specially to obey my command."

"I am a miko Kagome. Why does it surprise you that much?" Akiko seemed calm, but inside she was eager to start going. She looked at Inuyasha. "Shouldn't you be heading for a safe place Inuyasha? Tonight it is new moon."

"Feh! I can take care of myself." He grunted, dusting his clothes.

"We'll go with you back to the well Akiko-sama." Miroku said, grabbing her hand, he knelt before her. "I couldn't ask you this the night we met," Everyone groaned knowing what followed, except Sango who was grabbing her Hiraikotsu from her back. "But would bear my child?"

Akiko arched the left eyebrow surprised at the question, and not looking amused at all. Just when Sango was about to hit him, Dante half floated out from Akiko's belly and grinned, "I will bear all your children gladly!" Miroku screamed, and crawled back, and Sango met him with the Hiraikotsu.

"Dante." Akiko looked down at her with a disapproving countenance.

"I know. I know! Stop deciding over your body without consulting first. Heavens! Can't I have some fun from time to time." She complained and went back inside.

"I'm sorry for that." Akiko apologized to Miroku, "And not even if you were the last man over the Earth, I'd bear your child." She then looked at her sister. "There is no need for you to come with me Kagome. Continue doing what you were doing before I came here. I'll be seeing you."

"In the end we didn't need to worry that much." Shippou said as he jumped to Inuyasha's shoulder. "Now we can continue searching for Shikon shards."

"There is no time to lose!" Inuyasha turned to the opposite direction. "Kagome! Let's go."

Kagome looked at him. "I'm going back home. I need to talk with Akiko." Then she ran after Akiko who had disappeared in the woods.

Jaken followed his master quietly with Ah-un. He didn't notice when Sesshoumaru stopped abruptly and turned back, and almost ran into him, but the youkai stepped on him. He shook his head and then went after Sesshoumaru. "What is it Sesshoumaru-sama? Are there any more wolves around?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes became small, furious looking slits. 'She can't have…But then why would she?' He recalled her suggestion this morning about going after the main pack. 'That damn bitch! She planned it all!' He thought as he felt rage well up inside him. 'I won't let you escape this time!' Turning around, he hoped on Ah-un. "Take us home Ah-un." He ordered.

"Wait Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken croaked as he barely caught Ah-un's tail.

Kagome walked with Inuyasha a few meters behind Akiko. She had tried apologizing for what she had said that night, but Akiko answered it didn't matter anymore. Then she tried asking her relationship with Sesshoumaru, and she answered it wasn't her business. "She's hard to break like a rock." She muttered to Inuyasha who only grunted, still upset for being 'osuwaried' by somebody else.

"She has a very similar personality to Sesshoumaru's." Sango pointed out, as she walked with Miroku and Shippou behind the other two.

"We must look like that toad youkai that is after Sesshoumaru all the time." Shippou chuckled, and then cried out as Inuyasha hit him on the head growling something about not comparing him to that bastard.

Kagome looked up to the purple and yellow tinted sky. "It will be dark soon." She looked back at Inuyasha. "We'll head back to Kaede-sama's for the night after Akiko goes through the well."

"Weren't you going back with her?" Shippou asked, jumping to Inuyasha's shoulder so he could be closer to Kagome.

"She doesn't seem to be in a good mood, so probably it is better for me to stay here." Kagome sighed at the irony, "It is safer here if Akiko is home."

Inuyasha suddenly ran up to Akiko's side, and crossed his arms over his chest. "So…You met my father and my mother right?"

"How else would I know you?" Akiko gave him an evasive answer, and smiled inwardly at Inuyasha's small glare, giving in a little. "Your father's soul was so proud the day you were born it hardly fit his body. He loved you very much just like your mother."

"Sesshoumaru killed her." He informed her, waiting for any reaction from her, but got none.

"You saw him do it?" Akiko muttered, keeping her eyes on the space ahead of her.

Inuyasha arched the left eyebrow and grunted lowly. "No, but-"

"Then don't accuse him if you have no proofs." She said not showing emotions at all.

Inuyasha smirked, "You can't say he didn't do it either, so why do you defend him? Specially after the way he treated you back then."

"Who's your source?" Akiko asked, stopping suddenly.

"Myoga-jiji." Inuyasha scowled, "He was coming but when we told him he'd have to go into the palace and look for you he escaped."

"So typical of him." Akiko muttered not surprised. "Look Inuyasha, only I and the ones who have died at Sesshoumaru's hand know what he is capable off, but since I don't know who he has killed and the dead ones aren't about to introduce themselves, you might as well don't judge without proofs. That only shows how hot headed you are." She smirked, "But I guess it runs in the family." She turned around and continued walking, but suddenly she cried out falling to her knees and hugging herself.

"Akiko!" Kagome ran to her and Inuyasha who was right at her side immediately.

Akiko's body was shaking and she was breathing raggedly. "What is this pain?" She muttered, shutting her eyes tightly.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, dead worried.

'Did he mark you?' Dante's voice spoke in her mind.

'Mark me?' Akiko asked. 'I don't know! What is that?'

'No time to explain.' Dante replied, 'He is here.'

Sesshoumaru jumped off Ah-un and landed gracefully in front of the group. Ah-un turned around in the sky, taking Jaken away towards west. His eyes were wide, veiled with anger, and his face seemed colder than ever.

"Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha growled, bringing out the Tetsusaiga and stepping away from the others. "You better go back the way you came!"

Sesshoumaru glared at his younger brother, and growled. "Stay out of this Inuyasha!" He stepped towards them, his eyes set on Akiko's shuddering form. From the corner of his eye he saw Inuyasha charge against him and he quickly unsheathed the Toukijin, sending a powerful blow to the half breed which sent him flying away.

Sango and Miroku stood in front of Kagome and Akiko ready to fight Sesshoumaru. The youkai lord sheathed the sword and raised his hand, attacking them with the Dokasu, but Akiko's barrier protected them, but not her. He frowned when he heard her scream, and the barrier vanished easily.

"Oneesan!" Kagome looked up to the sky, which was tinted black by now. 'Inuyasha!' She thought worriedly looking back the way he had been sent. 'This is the end.'

"Kagome, step aside." Akiko's voice was ragged. "This is my problem. He'll let you and the others go."

"How do you know that?" Kagome shook her head, "He won't! I'm not leaving you!"

"He just said so." Akiko looked up to her with her enraged, green eyes. "And as your older sister, I order you to leave."

Sango grabbed Kagome by her arm. "Probably she can calm him down. It is better to let her try. Shippou has gone for Inuyasha."

Kagome leaved Akiko's side reluctantly together with Sango and Miroku, and they watched the exchange from a side. 'If only we wouldn't have taken so long!' She thought angrily.

Sesshoumaru stood in front of her glaring at her still shaking body. "Did you have to do it this way?"

"Is there any other way to go with you?" Akiko sneered, "You'd never understand. You never do!"

"Since when you came back to yourself?" He asked, holding himself back from killing her now and asking later.

"Last night." Akiko gasped as her body received another shock. "What did you do to me?"

"You are my mate." He grunted, "You are just feeling my anger."

"Ah…Your toy has tried to escape again and you've feel betrayed, isn't it?" Akiko's voice had a more sarcastic tone.

'I can't feel her anymore.' Sesshoumaru scowled, placing his hand on his Toukijin.

Akiko slowly rose, her head still hanging. "She says that if you're going to kill her,." She tilted her head back revealing bloody eyes and a wide grin. "You might as well use the Tenseiga. She can feel it asking for her blood." She leaped backwards, bringing out the kodachi from its' sheath. "But don't think this will be an easy kill. Do you really think you can harm this body?"

"Dante…" Sesshoumaru growled, his golden orbs set on her bloody ones. He noticed that the Tenseiga for once, was asking to be used in a battle against a living being. There was no time to ponder about it. He could kill her first and revive her with the Tenseiga. Taking Toukijin again out of his sheath, he prepared himself to fight. "It will be easy to kill it now that you're in possession. Been waiting for this moment for long time."

"Ah.." Dante grinned at him, feeling thrilled at the opportunity of fighting him. "But remember Sesshoumaru, I am her and she is me. Can you really kill your mate?"

.


	10. Chapter Nine Hopes and Dreams

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, its story or characters. I've just borrowed them to create this fanfic. Akiko is my original character. Don't try to sue me cause I possess nothing but my annoying, creative mind.

Haven

By Shihori

Chapter Nine: Hopes and Dreams.

Their swords clashed and shrieked with friction, as their eyes remained locked in a battle of their own. Dante grew needle like claws and sliced open a wound on his right arm, before leaping back. Sesshoumaru paid no attention to what he'd call a small scratch, and swung the Toukijin sending an energy blast towards her.

Dante shifted the kodachi in her hand so it would be parallel to her forearm, and sliced the blast by the middle taking away its impact force. She looked up finding Sesshoumaru over her, sending his Dokasu to her. Doing a somersault backwards, she dodged his attack. Extending her left arm to him, she released a dark energy blast, which made a deep mark on the ground as it traveled to its target. Sesshoumaru used his speed to dodge it and reach Dante to engage again into sword battle.

"The youkai spirit has a very powerful youki." Miroku commented, observing the fight. "If Akiko-sama's soul was the one that prevailed, does that mean she is even stronger?"

"Probably." Sango muttered, holding Kirara in her arms. "I guess you must have a strong spirit to stand someone like Sesshoumaru."

"Sesshoumaru isn't giving it his all though." Inuyasha, now in human form, stood next to Kagome who had been clinging to his arm for a while now. "It seems he doesn't want to kill her."

Kagome tightened her grip on his arm each time Sesshoumaru sent an attack towards Dante. "He seems pissed enough to me."

"What is it pup?" Dante yelled at him, grinning. "Don't have the guts? I'm waiting for my promised death and you're just playing around!"

"Foolish bitch!" He growled at her some meters away from her. "Have you asked Akiko if she wants to die?"

"Do you think she would have given me control if she didn't?" Dante ran her finger along a small cut on her left cheek, the only wound he had made her. Then she licked the blood off the finger. "She has been waiting for death ever since that damned night."

Sesshoumaru's glare intensified as well as his rage at those words. "If she is that weak…" He roared, "Then she might as well die!" Concentrating part of his youki, estimating he didn't need all of it to kill her, on the sword and he sent a final blast towards her.

Dante smiled, putting back the sword into the sheath at her waist, and opened her arms. "All she had been waiting for was to die at your hands, like you once promised." Closing her eyes, she was sent back into the woods by the blast.

"Akiko!" Kagome screamed, and ran towards the spot she had last seen her. The others followed behind. When they arrived to the clear where the well was located, they found Sesshoumaru was already nearing Akiko's body that lied unmoving on the ground.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango sent her boomerang towards him, trying to buy them time to help her, but he deflected it easily with the back of his forearm.

"Don't you go nearer Sesshoumaru!" Kagome warned him, ready to shot her arrow.

"Annoying pests." He growled, and attacked them with the Dokasu, which they escaped from miraculously. His attention was drawn back to Akiko when he felt her regain consciousness, which meant that Dante had been drawn back inside.

The rosary's beads were scattered all over around her. Akiko opened her eyes; everything was blurry in front of her. Pain shot through her body again, and she shrieked curling up. 'It is him who is causing me this pain, or is it I who is causing him pain and it reflects back to me?' She wondered.

'The later. If you were youkai you'd stand it, but you're only human.' Dante answered. 'Why did you draw me back?'

'Suddenly I didn't want to die fighting him.' Akiko answered, feeling a smile creep over her lips. She found strength within her, and slowly pushed herself up with her arms. Her hair was lose and covering her face. "Why did you mark me Sesshoumaru-sama?" She asked with a broken voice. "To make me suffer even more?"

"I can never understand you." He grunted, staying a few steps away from her and staring hardly at her. "Dante complains about me not giving you your place from the beginning, and you complain when I do."

"Isn't it a little too late?" She muttered, forcing herself to stand up. "Eight years my lord." She looked up at him with calm eyes and a smile on her lips. "Eight years in which I went through life with no real hopes or dreams." She chuckled and smirked, running her fingers through her hair. "But of course, what would you understand about hopes and dreams if you enjoy destroying them."

"Eight years can't compare to a hundred and three." He stepped closer to her. "I had no idea you could be this weak Akiko. I was wrong to think you were stronger than those humans I've killed."

"Was that intended to be a compliment?" Akiko turned to him with a sly grin on her face. "Never good enough for you right Sesshoumaru-sama?" She stepped closer to him until there were only a few centimeters. "Never good enough to be respected or cared for. You never believed me stronger than any human, otherwise you wouldn't have played with me the way you did. You wouldn't have faked jealousy only to kill me with a reason. You would have never marked me with anger like you did that damn night!"

"That is in the past." He stared down into her tired eyes.

"A past all too recent to me, and too long forgotten to you." She muttered, smiling in a strange way. "Do you think you could make up for all that happened only with a night of love making? Can you undo all the pain I've gone through?" Her voice became bitter and her eyes hard, as she gritted her teeth. "Can you repair my smile or my soul?" She began trembling with rage and yelled. "Can you erase the scars in my heart oh great lord of the west!" As quickly as she had heated up, she cooled down and smiled calmly at him. "Can you?"

She began chuckling, covering half of her face with her right hand, and then laughed. "You can't even kill me and then revive me with that Tenseiga. Your sword can't give me a second chance at life, and neither can you."

"You are not making sense at all." He reached out to hold her arm, but she slapped his hand away.

"Want a reason to really hate me Sesshoumaru-sama?" Akiko grinned, "It is I who spoiled you father's inheritance to you. I knew it wouldn't make you happy a sword that couldn't spill blood and guts, and even so I accepted your father's petition to bathe the first fang sword with my blood. It was my blood and your father's great power that gave birth to the special ability to bring the dead back to life, but useless in the hands of someone like you. Rin seems to be the exception though." She began chuckling again. "Isn't it curious? I'm sure you've seen the Tenseiga as a weak sword, not worthy of a youkai as powerful as you. While I've seen this hands and the ability enclosed in them as a curse more than a gift. Sometimes it is scary the way we are alike in many aspects."

"Akiko, you are not well." He frowned, for first time looking worried for her. He was glad that his brother was in his human form tonight otherwise he wouldn't have used such tone or words.

"Of course I'm not well." She smiled softly, "Haven't been in long time." She reached out to the Tenseiga and began unsheathing it. "Kill me with the your father's fang. Let it taste my blood again and end with my curse."

"You are not cursed." He said firmly, pushing the Tenseiga back into its sheath and grabbing her hand. "Why are you so desperate to die?"

"Why do you hesitate to please me?" She asked, still smiling. "If I'm not cursed, why can't I stop loving you?" She whispered, as she leaned her head against his chest. "Don't you see it is this love and this hatred towards you that is killing me slowly?" Her thin frame shook with the first sob, as her tears wet his clothes. "Ever since that night, my only dream has been to die at your hands. Remember? Just like you promised me you'd do the day I healed your battle wounds. If it wasn't for Dante's stubbornness, I would have let you kill me that night and ended this pain."

Sesshoumaru brought his hand to rest at the back of her neck. His eyes widened when his nose caught a scent on her that he had smelled before but not on her. He felt uneasy suddenly. 'I couldn't understand why her body was reacting to my anger but I hadn't picked this scent before.' He thought, looking down at her still crying against his chest. "I won't kill you." He informed his decision to her, and she tilted her head back to stare angrily at him, tears on her face. "Why should I start giving in into your demands just now?" He let go of her, -his whole body protesting at his mind's orders, wanting to hold her longer.

"You are a fucking selfish bastard!" She yelled, glaring at him.

"Dante." He called the spirit with a commanding tone.

Before Akiko could complain, Dante took over her. The spirit had a dead serious look plastered on her face. "You finally noticed."

"And you still fought me knowing this?" He snarled at her, his fist closing tightly.

"I rarely disobey her, -never do in your behalf. This is one of the exception to both." Dante crossed her arms over her chest. "I concentrated my youki around it so it wasn't harmed with your last attack."

Sesshoumaru turned around, his hair and tail moving slightly with the soft breeze. "Take her back to the place she belongs to."

"In these circumstances, that would be next to you." Dante muttered, making aside her personal opinions.

"Then take her to where she must be." He didn't look back at her, nor determined the group that approached her the moment he grew farther. As he walked away from the well's clear, he decided not to think of what had happened that night nor the previous one, otherwise he would turn around and take her back no matter if she hated him even more.

"Dante-san?" Kagome stepped carefully towards the youkai. "Is Akiko alright?"

"She'll be." Dante's eyes were fixed on the slowly growing small back of Sesshoumaru.

"You should go back to your time Kagome-sama with your sister." Miroku suggested, "She might need you."

Kagome nodded and took Dante's hand. "Let's go. Everyone must still be dead worried for her."

Dante took her hand away in a gentle manner to keep from offending the human. "Akiko needs to be alone now"

"But maybe she'll feel better if she has her family's company." Kagome looked concerned at the eerie form of her sister.

"The only company that could make her better, has gone that way." Dante muttered, looking at the spot where Sesshoumaru had disappeared into the woods. She turned around and walked towards the well. "Don't worry about her Kagome. Your sister is stronger than she seems." She hopped to the well's frame with ease and looked back at them smiling, "She was glad to meet you again Inuyasha. Continue with your quest Kagome. Akiko won't be an obstacle. Just come back soon enough to study for the tests or she'll be truly upset."

Kagome smiled brightly and nodded. "I will. Take care of her please!"

Dante assented with her head, and then looked down into the dark well. 'Let's go home pup.' She spoke to Akiko's quiet soul, and jumped in.

Shippou ran to the well and jumped up to the frame, looking down. "They're gone."

"Were you expecting her to be at the bottom of the well?" Sango asked as she neared the fox youkai.

"Not really." He looked at Kagome with bead like eyes. "Kagome, won't you take me to your time one day?"

Kagome giggled and took him into her arms. "Maybe one day."

"Stop fooling around and lets go." Inuyasha grunted, heading already towards the village. "I'm starving."

Kagome followed him, staring at his back covered by his long dark hair. 'Will I end up like my sister when the time comes to leave this time and Inuyasha forever?' She wondered after seeing from afar Akiko and Sesshoumaru's exchange. It was obvious to everyone that there was a strong bond between the two of them. Kagome smiled recalling that Inuyasha said no comments at all about the scene. 'Maybe…' She thought as she ran up to catch up with Inuyasha. He looked down at her and half smiled, and she smiled back. 'Separating from Inuyasha one day will be as painful, but' She let go of Shippou and grabbed the human looking hannyou 's arm which surprised him. 'I hope to take good memories with me. Memories of my love for him.'

Akiko's eyes fluttered open, as they adjusted to the darkness surrounding her. She could feel the well's ancient power, -more ancient than the one back in Feudal Japan. "I'm back." She whispered, confused as how she had got there.

"_Why should I start giving in into your demands just now?"_ She recalled his last words, and shuddered, bringing her arms around her torso. "My skin…" She whispered, "Is tingly." She sighed and rested her head back. "I still have him within my skin." She bit her lower lip, trying to hold back the sobs as fresh tears rolled down the sides of her face. 'Why?' She asked, 'Why!' Not being able to hold back her emotions, she screamed as loud as her lungs allowed her. Her cry of pain echoed in the well and filled the solitary shrine.

Rin ran through the flower field, carrying some flowers in her cupped arms. She entered the bright, full of life woods, and reached a small clear spot between the trees. There Jaken was preparing lunch for her, against his will of course, and had a fresh bump on his bald head.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" She chirped as she ran to the youkai. He was leaning against a tree with his tail wrapped around him, looking distant and untouchable like always. "Look at these beautiful flowers!" She smiled when he looked down with his usual disinterested look. "I'll do a crown with it." She sat down to his side ready to work on it. "Akiko-oneesan told me that I should always appreciate the lives I take from other living things and to make their death worthy by using them." She weaved a pair of flowers together. "When will she come back?"

Sesshoumaru didn't look at her. "Rin." He paused, and continued speaking when he felt the kid's eyes on him. "Did you do what I asked for?"

Rin's eyes lit up as she nodded effusively. "Yes Sesshoumaru-sama!" She stood up, dropping all the flowers from her lap and ran to Ah-un. Taking out something from the brown leather bag, she ran back up to him, extending her little hand to him. "Here it is."

Sesshoumaru looked at the blue beaded rosary hanging from her hand. He took it and stared at it, admiring the way the light reflected on its surface. "Good work Rin."

Rin smiled brightly and ran around the little campsite. "He liked it!" She chirped and ran to Jaken. "Did you hear that Jaken-san? He liked it!" She only got an annoyed grunt from the toad youkai.

The youkai lord stood up from his spot under the big, old tree, and walked away. He stared down at rosary, evoking old memories.

"_Don't be so stubborn!" Akiko looked exasperatedly at him, kneeling at his side next to the tree. "I've healed everybody else, but you!"_

"_I don't want your filthy hands on me wench!" He growled, glaring at her._

"_It is an order from the great lord, so you better obey at least once!" Akiko's voice was stern and her eyes determined. _

_Sesshoumaru suddenly grabbed the rosary around her neck and pulled her closer, threatening to choke her with it. "One day, I'll kill you with my own hands annoying wench." He snarled glaring into her green colored eyes. _

_Akiko set her hands on the wound he had on his abdomen and smiled warmly at him, as her hands began to glow with a soft blue light. "It is a promise right?" _

Sesshoumaru stopped at a cliff from which he could see the great western forest. The wind blew softly, making his hair and tail move gently with it. He looked down to the Tenseiga at his waist, and then wrapped the rosary around its hilt. The demon lord stared at the wide-open space in front of him, and set his mind on the tasks ahead.

Dante sat at the windowsill staring out to the hectic streets of Tokyo as snow slowly fell over it. She was dressed in tight, black pants and a black, turtle neck sweater with long sleeves. Her long black hair was pinned up messily with a pair of amber chopsticks. "I miss the little town you know? It is like my heart became heavy each time we left."

"You don't have one." Akiko, looking exactly the same as Dante, answered as she continued to draw on the big sheet of paper some new clothes designs. "It is only a state of mind."

"I wonder how you haven't got an ulcer with all the acidity you keep inside." Dante growled at her, and walked to where she stood working.

Akiko smiled, and chuckled, doing some final strokes to the drawing. "Were you expecting a 'poor sweet Dante. Let's go back home' from me?"

"One can hope right?" Dante peeked over Akiko's shoulder, and made an approving sound. "Nice one! It will surely sell well in the next collection." She saw Akiko smile, as she began coloring the drawing in red. Seeing her smile, looking serene and happy with what she was doing, made Dante think back to a month ago.

"_That can't be!" Akiko yelled from the middle of the king size bed. All the pillows and covers were lying on the floor. _

"_It is the reason why you could feel him near or feel his anger. Once a pup has been conceived the bond is unbreakable. It is as real as its beating heart!" Dante yelled back, pounding her fists once on the mattress. "Chew it, swallow it! Live with it!"_

"_No! No! NO! __Damn it no!" Akiko pounded her fists against the mattress over and over again until she got tired. A while later she spoke again. "Not having it."_

"_What?" Dante's eyes shot wide open and she bared her teeth at her. "Don't you dare say that again!"_

"_It's my body! It's my life!" Akiko yelled, keeping her head against the mattress, hidden by her hair. "It will be a hannyou! Do you have any idea how difficult life will be for it here? For a normal child life is difficult among others from the same kind, it will be even more for a child with human face, but dog ears on his head!"_

_Dante crawled on the mattress and pushed her back so she would look at her. "I hate to be the one saying this, but right now you're being even more heartless than that pup's father!" She couldn't believe she was about to speak well of Sesshoumaru. "Listen well to what I'm about to say Akiko. I know you must hate that pup now because you hate Sesshoumaru, but understand that by marking you he was saying all the words he as a youkai can't say. When a youkai marks a female, she becomes life and soul mate, which means that there is nobody more important to that youkai than his mate and his offspring."_

"_You mean it is a way of saying 'I love you'?" Akiko muttered, looking as confused as a child. _

_Dante smirked, "You give too much importance to that human phrase child. You are a youkai's mate, even though you're far from him, so start thinking as one." She sighed and sat behind her, hugging her. "You are like a pup to me, and that pup you carry in you, even though it has that brat's blood in it, is yours as well so it is like my grandchild." _

_Akiko sighed, closing her eyes as she rested her head on Dante's shoulder. "I'm scared." _

"_I will be here for you." Dante smiled and caressed her hair. "We'll have a beautiful pup."_

_She looked down at her and then saw her smile, taking her for surprise._

"_With silver hair and golden eyes just like him." Akiko whispered, smiling softly as a tear escaped her eyes. She placed a hand over her womb. "He is with me."_

'All she wanted was to be with him, or not exist at all.' Dante smiled looking at Akiko start a new drawing. 'So in the end, I don't get to understand males nor Akiko Higurashi. She always finds a way to make things more difficult, and still come out of it triumphantly . Strangest being I've ever shared a body with, but definitely the only one I've grown to love.'

There was a knock on the door and Dante stepped into Akiko's body immediately. "Come in." Akiko looked at the door waiting for the person to come in.

"It is time girl." A young man with tanned skin, and spiky black hair walked in.

'Ah…I'd give anything to pounce on that perfect body!' Dante exclaimed.

Akiko giggled, turning her face away from the man. "Thanks for coming Zan."

"What are you giggling at huh?" He smiled, revealing perfect white teeth, pinching her cheek in an affectionate manner. "You've been quite strange after that week disappearance. Are you ok?"

Akiko smiled brightly, and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the door and grabbed her purse and coat. "I've never been better!" She said as she closed her bedroom's door, and walked towards the elevator. Looking back at Zan who was giving her a confused look, she smiled. "Hurry! We have a fashion revolution to start!"

_-Hopes and dreams were the only things I never asked from him… _Akiko walked down the catwalk next to Zan through the corridor made by the models wearing their designs. They reached the end of the catwalk and bowed to the applauding crowd. Akiko rejoiced in the fulfilling emotion of success as she looked to the spectators, smiling in a confident way.

-_But that is what he gave to me. It makes me hate him a little less. _

The End.

Thanks lots to Kouri-chan for helping me out with info facts. I get too lazy to investigate when I'm in the writing flow. Hope you like the ending of Haven. And thank you for suggesting to me to go back to my roots. Now I can be happy for finishing at least one story this year.

_Shihori._

_Sunday, July 28, 2002._


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